


Dance With the Devil

by Scutter



Series: A Most Unexpected Man [7]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Knotting, M/M, Omega Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-22
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 08:22:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 66,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1054599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scutter/pseuds/Scutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The seventh fic in the Unexpected Man series. The Alliance has discovered the truth about the 'mating clinic' that Shepard and Chakwas ran, and there are serious consequences to be had. Meanwhile, Kaidan and Shepard attempt to work out the implications of their bonding... and Kaidan finds himself overcome with jealousy, as a former flame of Shepard's steps back into the limelight.</p><p>NOW WITH FANART!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Mediasylum who has rendered a scene from chapter 3 - Shepard's reaction when David tells him Kaidan is in jail. You can find it at his deviantart page http://www.deviantart.com/?order=5&q=mediasylum#  
> My first fanart... I'm so excited!!

Kaidan sat in the corner of his jail cell, staring at the wall, wondering how the hell things had gone so wrong so fast. Fucking Alliance protocols. He curled his knees up tighter to his chest as another wave of cramps gripped him. Panting helped a little, but it still felt like someone was poking at his insides with a sharp knife.

The wave passed and he relaxed a little... as much as someone could relax when they were sitting on a concrete jail floor and in the process of miscarrying an unintentional pregnancy.

More than anything else, he wanted Shepard here with him. The bonding was insistent and irrepressible, and ever since they'd arrested his lover two days ago, he'd been climbing the walls with the need to see him, to touch him, to know that he was okay.

The self-determination act had gone a long way towards securing an omega's rights in the world, but there was nothing in it about the bonding, nothing to guarantee an omega's access to his bonded alpha, or vice-versa. The medical world seemed barely aware of the fact that bonding was even possible, and had no interest at all in understanding or documenting the process. 

Which left couples like him and Shepard high and dry. 

And then David, that whoreson bastard, had had Kaidan arrested as well. 

Kaidan hit his head against the wall, feeling another wave of anxiety and nausea. He needed to see Shepard. Desperately. But thanks to the Alliance's bigoted bullshit and David's self-righteous posturing, that was highly unlikely to happen anytime soon.


	2. Bad News

TWO DAYS EARLIER

Kaidan sat on the toilet, pants around his ankles, trembling slightly as his body refused to keep itself warm. Blood dripped from his back passage, and he wished he'd thought to put on a sweater before the cramps had started. He'd known what to expect, having been through this once before, back on the Normandy after they'd gotten back from Mavigon, but somehow the memory had faded into insignificance over the past year. Probably something to do with all the fighting, killing the reapers, hooking up with Shepard and the endless list of other dramas that had gone on over the last 12 months. 

Fuck... was it really only a year ago that he'd been a shy, apprehensive virgin, facing his first ever heat with cold terror and blind faith in his partner? Hard to believe how far they'd come.

He felt another spurt of fluid, another tight, pinching, burning sensation deep inside himself, and he held his breath until it passed. Shepard had gone out this morning, and Kaidan had finally gotten around to taking the birth control pills Chakwas had given him. The days since his heat had been taken up in meetings with Alliance brass, and much more covert conversations with Chakwas and the other participants in the 'mating clinic' at the hospital. The Alliance had demanded a full list of participants, but were now dragging their heels about actually reaching a conclusion regarding that most unorthodox treatment program for omegas in heat. They’d suspended everyone with full pay, but that was as far as they’d gone. 

Today was the first day Kaidan had had to himself, and he was well aware of the need to just get this over with. As unpleasant as this voiding process was, carrying a child for nine months was a far more awkward prospect – not to mention the unenviable task of giving birth at the end of it. Not something he wanted to even think about...

He heard the front door open and close, then Shepard's familiar, soothing voice asking where he was.

"In the bathroom," Kaidan answered, feeling tired and washed out. He peered down at the absorbent pad secured to his underwear that was supposed to soak up the blood, and saw that it needed changing. It worked in theory, but Kaidan found the thing terribly uncomfortable, feeling like he was walking around with a wet diaper, and sitting on the toilet for an hour or two, for the worst of the bleeding, seemed the lesser of two evils.

He heard Shepard as he rustled about in the kitchen, then he headed down the hall to the bedroom... footsteps coming back again. Kaidan leaned his head against the wall and hoped this would be over soon.

There was a soft knock at the door. "You okay?" Shepard asked tentatively.

How was he supposed to answer that? To his own surprise, he suddenly wanted Shepard with him, feeling no embarrassment at all about the fact that he was sitting on the toilet with his pants down.

"You can come in," he said tiredly, and the door opened, Shepard's concerned face peering through the gap. 

"What's going on?"

"I took the birth control pills," Kaidan said, then winced as another cramp hit him. Shepard stepped closer... and then saw the blood on the padding. 

"Fuck! What the hell?"

"Calm down, this is normal," Kaidan said patiently. "Getting rid of a potential pregnancy was never going to be straight forward."

Shepard knelt down, his expression a heart-wrenching blend of concern and guilt. "Shit, I'm sorry..."

Kaidan had to laugh at that, despite his discomfort. "For what? You didn't make me go through the heat. And not mating me would hardly be a better option."

"Yeah, but..." Shepard glanced at the blood-soaked padding again. "I didn't know." He looked up at Kaidan, his guilt increasing as a new thought occurred to him. "You went through this last time, as well?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you say something?"

Kaidan rolled his eyes in exasperation. "What the hell was I supposed to say? We weren't together then. Neither of us was talking about the heat, we were both pretty much pretending it had never happened, and Chakwas was still rooting for me to have you charged with rape. Dropping a casual 'oh, by the way, I've spent the last three days bleeding and cramping' was hardly going to fit nicely into a conversation. Right between 'I need to clean my gun' and 'look, here come more husks to kill us'. Come on, Shepard, really?"

Shepard blushed, and Kaidan still thought it was the most adorable expression ever.

"Sorry."

Kaidan closed his eyes and groaned, a sharp pain lancing through his middle. He felt a lump - most likely a blood clot - slide out of his ass, and the slick, wet feel of it was disgusting.

"Is there anything I can do?" Shepard asked, rubbing his shoulder, and Kaidan felt better just from the contact. 

"Could you bring me a sweater? I'm freezing here."

“Yeah.”

Shepard was gone in an instant, rushing back moments later with one of his own, and that made Kaidan feel all the more pampered, pulling it on and finding himself surrounded with Shepard’s unique scent. He’d also brought a blanket, and he tucked it over Kaidan’s knees.

“Anything else?”

He shook his head. “No. I just have to wait this out.”

At that moment, Shepard’s omni-tool pinged, and he accessed the message that had just come in… and then swore colourfully. “Alliance brass wants to see us again.”

“Now?”

“In two hours. I’ll tell them you’re not well-“

“No. I’ll come. The worst of this should be over by then. It doesn’t last long, and I’ve been here for over an hour already.”

Shepard frowned. “You said it lasted three days.”

Kaidan shrugged, feeling nauseous and groggy. “It’s all relative. The worst of it will be over in a few hours. Then the cramps get lighter, and the blood is just seeping, not pouring.”

“I can tell them you can’t make it.”

Kaidan shook his head and gave Shepard a stern glare. “That’s my future they’re fucking with. And every other omega in the galaxy. I’m going to be there.”

 

 

Shepard and Kaidan sat in stiff chairs before a board of high ranking officers in Alliance HQ. Silence had descended on the room just a few minutes ago, broken only by the sound of papers being shuffled and throats being cleared.

"I think we’ve covered everything we need to about that particular incident,” a women with an unpleasant, nasal voice said, referring to their extended discussion about the events on Mavigon. “An unfortunate situation, but you handled it as well as could be expected.” Her tone said that she still thought the outcome had been rather shabby, and Kaidan reminded himself that betas were genuinely ignorant of a lot of the issues surrounding omega heats. She wasn’t trying to be offensive, she was just naïve.

“Now,” she continued, peering at Shepard over the rim of her glasses. “If you could just show me the consent form, we’ll move on.”

Shepard glanced at Kaidan, looking as clueless as Kaidan himself felt. Consent form? 

“I don’t have one,” Shepard said, after an awkward pause.

“Excuse me?” The woman queried. “What do you mean, you don’t have one?”

“There wasn’t time to write one,” Kaidan jumped in, hoping this would sound better coming from him, rather than from Shepard. “By the time I realised I was going to go into heat, we only had a couple of hours to prepare. But I’ve never considered what Shepard did to be-“

“He raped you?” The words were spoken by an aging man at the end of the table, shock written all over his face.

“No! I don’t hold anything against him, and I had the opportunity to press charges, and I chose not to-“

“I’m sorry,” the man interrupted again. “Do you, or do you not, have a date-stamped consent form covering your mating.”

“No sir, but I don’t-“

“Then I’m afraid I must have Commander Shepard arrested on charges of statutory rape.”

“What?” Both of them protested at once. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It wasn’t rape!”

“We’ve spent the last six months or more living together.”

“How can you press charges when I didn’t?”

“Gentlemen, please!” The shrill woman shouted at them both, and it was only then that Kaidan realised they were both on their feet, abandoning all semblance of protocol and discipline. “The point about statutory rape is that the omega in question is not capable of giving consent-“

“That’s bullshit,” Kaidan bit out angrily, but she ignored him.

“And as a Commander in the Alliance, Shepard is subject to Alliance protocols. Mating with a member of his own crew was illegal to begin with, but we were willing to overlook that in light of his accomplishments. But statutory rape is not something that can be overlooked or swept under the rug, regardless of his rank or military record. I’m sorry, Commander, Major, but charges must be laid.”

Kaidan looked at Shepard, shock and disbelief painted across both their faces.

“The whole idea that an omega is incapable of consenting that close to their heat is rubbish,” Kaidan insisted, not willing to give up the fight that easily. “Most of the rape cases that happen are because the omega _did_ say no, and the alpha wouldn’t hear it!”

“Are you disputing the self-determination act?” the man asked, in a tone of voice that said he would gladly see the entire act overturned.

“No! But that doesn’t mean that parts of it aren’t inaccurate. I was completely lucid at the time that I asked Shepard to mate with me, and I had more than enough presence of mind to have turned him down, if I’d wanted to.”

“But you didn’t turn him down,” the woman pointed out.

“So?”

“So how can you presume to be capable of something when you’ve never actually done it?”

Kaidan had no answer to that. The logic she was employing was deeply flawed, but there was so much history, so much politics surrounding the self-determination act to begin with that he didn’t even know where to begin arguing the point. He looked helplessly at Shepard. Security guards had arrived, and Kaidan felt sick with the knowledge that they were about to separate them. They were going to take his alpha away from him…

“No…” He moved to Shepard’s side, but his path was immediately blocked by guards. “You can’t do this.”

“Don’t worry,” Shepard told him, even as he was handcuffed. “I’ve got a few favours I can call in. We’ll get this sorted out.”

“I love you,” Kaidan told him, not caring that they had an audience, not caring who heard.

“I love you too. We’ll get through this,” Shepard said again, and damn the man for being so fucking calm! And then he was being led away, more guards preventing Kaidan from following him, and he’d never felt so bereft, so lost and helpless and inadequate in all his life.


	3. Mistakes

Kaidan paced outside the military jail two days later. There had been no word from Shepard, no hint of any progress in securing his release, and no evidence of these ‘favours’ he’d mentioned. Surely anyone who owed Shepard a favour would have been only too eager to jump to his aid? 

Chakwas had been questioned about her failure to report a case of statutory rape, and Kaidan had yet to hear the outcome of that hearing. But given the fact that Shepard had not yet been released, he had to assume that it hadn’t achieved anything useful. 

A sky car pulled up nearby, but Kaidan ignored it. The jail and the adjoining courthouse had all manner of visitors coming and going, lawyers, military officers, a flood of administration staff, none of whom held any interest to him. The only person he cared about seeing was currently locked in a small cell, no doubt going out of his mind with worry for him, just as Kaidan was doing for Shepard. But then a voice called his name, and he turned around…

“Ah, the infamous Kaidan Alenko,” the man before him said in a stiff, British accent. “Nice to finally make your acquaintance.”

Kaidan looked the man up and down. He was aware that he looked a wreck, not having slept or eaten since Shepard had been arrested, and the man in front of him was dressed in a suit, clean shaven, carefully groomed, not a hair out of place. “I’m Shepard’s lawyer,” he said, still holding out his hand for Kaidan to shake, and finally he did, not at all sure he liked this pompous, arrogant clothes-horse. “I owe him a favour or two. Or three. And I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I was in Chicago. Difficult to get a flight, even with all the progress we’ve made with the rebuild. I’m David McCallum.” He had a firm handshake, and Kaidan told himself to take a deep breath and relax. Okay, so a lawyer was good. One who owed Shepard a favor was even better. 

“And how do you know Shepard,” he asked, trying to get his bearings. Two days of questioning and protesting and arguing had gotten him absolutely no where, but that didn’t mean he was going to trust the first cock-sucker in a suit who wandered past.

David leaned in and gave him a conspiratorial wink. “I’m the omega who taught him how to fuck like a pro.”

Kaidan’s semi-amiable mood vanished. He pulled back. Gaped at this arrogant whoreson in shock.

And then punched him squarely in the face.

 

Shepard was pacing his cell like a caged animal. He hadn’t fought them when they’d come to arrest him because he’d genuinely thought that he’d be out again in a couple of hours. He would make a call to David – not only a most unconventional omega, but also a brilliant lawyer, well versed in all aspects of the self-determination act, and no doubt up to speed with hundreds of precedents that had been set by recent court cases regarding the role of the various genders in society – and David would come over to the court house, pull a few strings, and at the very least, have Shepard out on bail by six o’clock.

Only David had been in the United States at the time. 

And so, two days later, Shepard was slowly going insane at the fact that he’d allowed himself to be separated from his omega. He paced, he growled at anyone who happened past, and he’d tried to choke one of the guards who had casually insulted Kaidan while standing a little too close to the bars.

They’d been separated before, but it had been a voluntary situation, one or the other sent on an assignment, and they’d been able to keep in touch via comm links, able to reassure each other that they were safe and well. But this? They’d been forced apart quite against their will, and Shepard had no way of knowing if Kaidan was alive and well, or lying dead in a gutter somewhere. And he’d been ill at the time. What if something went wrong with the termination? What if he bled to death? Would the Alliance provide him with medical care, or toss him out based on their bigoted standards of decency and protocol? The waiting and the not knowing were driving him insane, and he’d not slept a wink since they’d arrested him.

The door at the end of the hall opened with a loud clang and Shepard rushed to the bars, craning his head to see who was coming-

“David! Thank god- What the fuck happened to you?” 

 

David glared at his long-time friend as he made his way down the hall to his cell. Shepard was a mess, unshaven, tense and predatory – a far cry from the disciplined soldier he had once known. 

But then David was aware that he himself wasn’t looking his best. Aside from the bandage over his nose and the shiny new black eye, he also looked rather disheveled, dirt streaking his expensive suit pants, a small tear in his coat sleeve.

“Your _boyfriend_ ,” he spat the word at Shepard, “happened to me. I say three words to the man and he decides to deck me. You’re damn lucky I like you so much, or I’d have turned around and gone straight back home.”

Shepard looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Why the fuck would Kaidan hit you? That’s ridiculous.”

“My broken nose says otherwise,” David said mildly, already sorting through a sheaf of paperwork in the folder in his hands. ”You said he would be easy to work with. Hip-hip-hooray for pushing the boundaries of alpha-omega relationships and all that. Well, I don’t suffer fools lightly. Maybe a night in lock-up will cool his temper a little-“

David lurched backwards as Shepard lunged for him through the bars, missing grabbing his coat lapels by scant millimeters. “You fucking had him arrested? Any harm comes to him and I’ll gut you, you two-faced cunt!”

David stared at his friend in shock. Not due to the threats – he knew enough about Shepard, had heard enough on the news vids to know that he was a tough creature, a survivor, and to have achieved what he had, he had to have a temper and a violent streak. None of that bothered him. 

No, the thing that had him backpedaling and cursing in a very British way was the fact that the eyes of this most unusual alpha had suddenly turned a bright, vivid gold. 

Fucking hell… why hadn’t he just said so? “I have to go,” David muttered, aware that he’d made a terrible mistake, and hoping that he could rectify it before anything else went wrong. “I’ll come back later.”

With no further explanation, he dashed off down the hall, leaving Shepard swearing and cursing the day David had been born.

 

Okay, so punching Shepard’s lawyer might have been a bad move, Kaidan admitted to himself, hours later, after he’d been arrested on assault charges. He was feeling miserable, in pain, tired, stressed, and logically, he knew he had nothing to worry about on the relationship front. He and Shepard had bonded. Shepard had barely mentioned David since the mating clinic had shut down, and had never indicated he had any feelings for the man. Or that David had any feelings for him. 

But even so, knowing that they had gone through not one, but two heats together made Kaidan feel an irrational rage, and David was lucky he’d stopped at breaking his nose. As he sat there in the corner of his cell, Kaidan could think of a few other body parts he’d like to have a go at, and the fierce anger he felt towards David drowned out some of the pain of his cramps. So at least there was one good thing to come of all of this.

Footsteps sounded from down the hall, and Kaidan looked up with half-hearted disinterest…

“There you are.” 

What the fuck? It was David again, his nose covered in a white bandage, his right eye blackened and bruised. He nodded to the guard, who unlocked the door to the cell, and David stepped inside.

"Come on. We need to get you out of here,” he instructed sharply, but Kaidan just flipped him off. 

“Do I need to remind you that you’re the one who put me here in the first place?”

“My apologies,” David said, sounding genuinely contrite. “I overstepped my bounds. Shepard hadn’t told me that you were bonded. All thing considered,” he added, his accent becoming slightly more pronounced, “I’d say you reacted with admirable restraint. Now, please. Let me help you. Both of you.”

Kaidan didn't like this guy, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sitting around in a jail cell wasn’t going to help Shepard the slightest bit, so he got up and went to following David out... but then another wave of cramps hit him, and he doubled over, clutching the wall for support.

"What's wrong?"

Under normal circumstances, there was nothing in the world that could have dragged an answer from Kaidan, not about this, not here, not now. But knowing what he did about David, he knew that the man was both an omega, and one who had been through what he was currently going through at least twice. And once he put his jealousy aside, he also remembered that Shepard had said the man was brilliant. 

So, keeping his voice low, he said "I went through my heat a week ago. Took some Cloprazimorphide." No one but an omega - or a doctor - would recognise the name of the birth control drug. 

David's eyebrows shot up as he recognised the word, and his jaw dropped. "You what?” Kaidan was too busy fighting back nausea and pain to answer, but it didn’t matter. “Fuck me. Okay, that changes our plans once again. We’re going straight to the medical centre.”

“I’m fine,” Kaidan insisted, but David waved him off.

“Here’s the thing,” he said, leading Kaidan towards the door. “There’s a little known clause in the self-determination act that makes it illegal to deny an omega medical care on the basis of his or her gender. And since you’ve recently been through a heat, and are therefore in need of medical care – and you are in need of medical care,” he insisted pointedly, “-then that gives you grounds to sue the Alliance for medical neglect. And given the current status of your other half, that’s definitely going to work in your favor. So…” He gave Kaidan a pointed look. “We’re going to the medical centre.”

The man spoke more quickly than the average salarian, and in his dazed state, Kaidan had trouble keeping up. But the gist of it seemed to be that if he played the illness card, it could help Shepard get out of jail. Okay. He could play along with that. “Fine,” he agreed, feeling a headache coming on. And if they could get there before he decided he needed to throw up, that would be all the better.


	4. David

Shepard was ready to kill someone when the door at the end of the hall opened again. It had been two hours since David had scurried away like the vermin he was, and no amount of pleading or demanding had yielded any news from the guards about where Kaidan was, or how he was doing.

And now, finally, the sharp tap of expensive shoes told him that David was finally coming back. “Where the fuck have you been?” he greeted the man, aware that pissing off the person who was best able to get him out of here was a bad move, but he was too wound up over Kaidan’s arrest to get himself to calm down and see sense.

“Getting you bailed,” David replied, sounding like he was merely discussing the weather, waving a guard forward to unlock the door. “And before you follow through on that threat to remove my intestines, you should know that your boy-toy is now safe and secure in the Alliance hospital, receiving the very best care for his…condition.”

Shepard felt all the anger drain out of him at the news. “He’s okay?”

“He’s as well as can be expected, given the circumstances. What he needs more than anything,” David added, lowering his voice and tugging Shepard away from the guard, “is to see his bonded alpha again. So be a good boy, don’t threaten anyone on our way out, and we’ll be on our way to see him before you know it.”

Shepard nodded, wanting to demand answers, to know why Kaidan had been arrested in the first place, to ask whether David had put up the bail money himself… but all of that paled into insignificance in light of the idea of seeing Kaidan again. So he kept his mouth shut, signed the relevant forms and agreed to check in every day while the court case was pending.

A guard went with them in the sky car to the hospital, and Shepard was reluctant to have any meaningful conversation in front of a random stranger, so his need for answers was going to have to wait a little longer. He still didn’t know whether to hug David, or punch him, but consoled himself with the knowledge that very soon, he would be able to see his omega in the flesh, and know for certain that he was okay… or not.

David wasted no time in leading him to Kaidan’s room, and Shepard burst through the door without even knocking. Kaidan was sitting in bed, pale and tired, wearing a hospital gown, and Shepard had crossed the room in an instant, pulling the man into his arms almost before he’d realised who had arrived.

“Oh, thank god…” Kaidan hugged him back almost as fiercely as Shepard was holding him, and buried his nose in Shepard’s neck, inhaling deeply. “Fuck, you smell good…”

Not surprising, given that Shepard’s hormones had no doubt been going nuts, his skin seeping pheromones that communicated to every alpha and omega in the area that he was pissed off and feeling highly territorial. It was unfortunate that betas remained oblivious to the scent, but several staff in the hospital had hastily gotten out of his way on the journey here, and it was faintly amusing to know that it was that easy to out someone as being something other than a beta.

Relieved beyond measure to have his omega back, he buried his face in Kaidan’s neck and inhaled… and smelled nothing at all. What the hell? He pulled back, wondering whether he’d done something to piss Kaidan off. Letting himself be arrested probably hadn’t put him at the top of his favourite person list, but…

“You miss me?” he asked, trying to stay calm.

“That doesn’t even _begin_ to cover it,” Kaidan replied. “But right now, we have _company_.” The word was laced with the threat of violence, and Shepard glanced around to see David lurking awkwardly in the doorway.

Oh. So that’s what he’d done.

“What happened between you two,” he asked cautiously, keeping one arm around Kaidan as he shifted around to face David.

“My fault, old chap,” David admitted easily. “I happened to mention the fact that we’d previously bumped uglies to your _bonded_ omega…” The word was said with a wealth of reprimand in his tone “…and he decided to defend his territory. Perfectly reasonable reaction, all things considered, but I would have appreciated a warning about it beforehand.”

Kaidan, for his part, was openly glaring at David, and Shepard took the time to be impressed. He’d often wondered just what the bonding meant to Kaidan. He, himself, was prone to all manner of violence and extreme behaviour if anyone – or anything – happened to threaten his omega. But so far Kaidan had never shown any hint of aggression about it, and it was something of a relief to know that Kaidan was just as capable of staking a claim to his territory if it was threatened. And for that alone, Shepard was inclined to cut him some slack. Never mind the fact that he was ill, his skin pale, his eyes sunken…

“David, could you give us a minute?” he asked, and the man shrugged, stepped outside and closed the door behind him. 

“He seems to know rather a lot about the bonding process,” Kaidan observed immediately, and Shepard was once again mollified to see faint streaks of gold threading through his lover’s eyes.

“I suspect he’s been doing more research. He was always very curious about his own physiology. But can we just forget about David for a second. I want to know how you are.”

Kaidan let out a huff of disbelief. “I’m bleeding, I haven’t slept in three days and the fucking Alliance just arrested my alpha. I’m doing great. Really.”

“Seriously, Kaidan.” Shepard put a gentle hand on his stomach, noting the way Kaidan winced. “Are you okay? I mean, physically? Have there been complications?”

Kaidan covered Shepard’s hand with his own. “The doc gave me something for the nausea. She says I can go home as soon as there’s someone there to keep an eye on me. I’m a little anemic. The amount of stress I’ve been through in the last few days made the bleeding worse than usual, and I’m not allowed to do anything strenuous for a few days.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry. I should never have let them arrest me-“

“God, can we not start another round of ‘let’s blame myself for everything’? I went through a heat. There are consequences to that. Life goes on.”

Yup, Kaidan was definitely pissed at him.

“And what the hell is David doing about all this? Are you free, or are the charges still-“

“I’ve been released on bail.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t know who paid it. That’s something I need to talk to David about.”

“Why the fuck did you call him, anyway? I know he’s a lawyer, but given your history, surely there was someone else you could have asked.”

Needing to make a point, Shepard leaned forward and pulled Kaidan in for a deep, wet kiss. “I don’t give a fuck about David,” he said firmly, and was rewarded when Kaidan kissed him back harder, pulling him close, not giving him an inch of room to pull away.

“So why did you ask him to come here?”

“Because he’s not just any lawyer. He specializes in cases that involve alpha-omega dynamics, and he’s won over 80% of the cases he’s fought. He’s the best in his field. And that means that we need him. However much you might wish we didn’t.”

“Fuck.” Kaidan rubbed his face.

“Kaidan, he’s no threat to you-“

“You had sex with him, Shepard,” Kaidan pointed out harshly. “A lot. So yeah, actually, he is a threat to me, and I’d very much like him to be _somewhere else_ right now.”

Shepard sighed. Took Kaidan’s hand in his and kissed the back of it. Waited.

“Fuck…” Kaidan breathed on a sigh. “Okay, okay. Go get your fancy lawyer, and let’s get this sorted out.”

“I love you,” Shepard told him firmly… but Kaidan merely shrugged. And for all their belief that the bonding was permanent, Shepard felt a tremor of fear at his omega’s disinterest. The lack of scent, the vague acquiescence… but he’d still had the gold in his eyes, Shepard reminded himself. So it couldn’t be all bad, right? Right?

He opened the door and called David back in, noting the glare Kaidan gave the man. “Let’s start at the beginning,” he said, even before David had sat down. “What were the conditions for my release?”

“Bail was set at 100 000 credits.” Shepard’s jaw dropped, but before he could ask where the hell David had come up with that kind of money, he was already explaining the situation. “It was paid by a variety of people, most of whom seem to be either your former crew mates, or people who participated in that clinic of yours. Seems you’re quite the popular poster child for the current re-liberation of omegas. Which, given that you’re an alpha, is just hilarious.”

“What about the rape charges?”

“Technically, you haven’t been charged with rape,” David said. “The Alliance’s rules don’t actually cover that. What you’ve been charged with is breach of a variety of anti-fraternization regulations, including mating with a subordinate, mating with an omega, and mating with an omega in heat. Don’t think that that’s not an extremely serious allegation, though. Alliance regs are quite clear about that fact that sexual relationships between alphas and omegas are expressly forbidden, and they can throw the full weight of their laws at you.”

“So how do we fight this?”

David tented his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Legally, with extreme difficulty. You’ve both admitted that you had sex, you’ve admitted that you’re in an intimate and ongoing relationship with each other, and from a purely legal perspective, it should be an open and shut case. Politically, on the other hand… Alliance regulations were never designed to account for… operating outside defined parameters. For example, if you found yourself shipwrecked on an isolated world and one of your crew mates was severely injured and you had no medical supplies… one might, under the right circumstances, choose to shoot said crew mate to end his suffering, when the only other foreseeable option would have been to allow him to die a slow and agonizing death. Legally, that’s murder. Politically, there’s… wiggle room.”

Shepard raised an eyebrow. “So we plead extenuating circumstances, and hope for the best?”

David chuckled. “If you’d hired a two-bit lawyer from Cheapside, then yes, that would be your best option. But you didn’t. You hired me.”

Shepard smiled, despite the blatant arrogance on the man’s face. “So what do we get for the extra charge?”

David smirked. “The world is currently in a state of upheaval. The Self-Determination Act was a farce. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good things in it,” David hastily added, when Kaidan sat up and went to protest. “But some of the conditions and clauses are absolutely laughable. Namely, the one which requires omegas to give forty eight hours notice of their consent to be mated during their heat. There is absolutely no physiological basis behind that recommendation. So why is it there? We have to look back to the development of the Act, which was put together largely by betas with no knowledge of omega physiology, and before we rush into the streets waving our pitchforks, we must remember that until three months ago, the average omega had no understanding themselves of what a heat was like. So, with no reasonable, rational guidelines to follow, the law-makers went for a nice safe margin, and everyone was happy with the delusional idea that they’d done it to protect omegas from themselves. So what you hired me to do, Shepard, is not only convince the Alliance that you had good and valid reasons for breaking their laws, but that those laws themselves are deeply flawed, and deserve to be changed.”

Kaidan spoke up then. “You’ve just said that the Self-determination act is flawed, but that’s not what we’re up against. The Alliance’s regulations are under a completely different jurisdiction.”

David shrugged. “Different laws, same principle. And the regs themselves are often internally contradictory. It’s illegal for an omega to be put at risk of life-threatening injuries, but it’s also illegal for the Alliance to discriminate against a person’s gender when considering them for promotion. So what happens when an omega applies for a position in the front lines of a war? Hm? There’s no way to satisfy both regs at the same time. It’s a bureaucratic nightmare. And a lot of people simply forgot – or chose to ignore – a lot of those regs because we were all at risk of extinction from giant alien robot-gods, but it’s still there in the manual.”

The conversation was cut short suddenly as Kaidan sucked in a sharp breath and hunched over, arm around his middle as his face tightened in pain. Shepard went to him immediately, pulling him into his arms, rubbing his shoulder until the cramp passed. But even after it had, Kaidan still didn’t seem to relax.

“You okay?”

“Not really,” Kaidan said, his voice thin and quiet. “This is worse than it was last time…”

A small noise of disquiet brought Shepard’s gaze around to David, who was watching them with a look of polite expectation… He glanced from Shepard to Kaidan and back… then expectation turned to confusion… and then to exasperation. "Oh, for fuck's sake, would you just bite him already?" he snapped at Shepard, who looked back at him blankly.

"Why would I do that?"

David gaped at him. "Good god, how has modern medicine completely forgotten everything we knew 200 years ago. You bite him and that neat little cluster of nerves in his neck shoots straight to his brain and releases a bucket load of endorphins, and hey presto, all the pain goes away."

Both Kaidan and Shepard looked like the news was the biggest revelation of the year. 

"Really?" Kaidan asked, sounding stunned.

"Really!" David insisted. 

Shepard had always viewed his bites as a private, intimate thing, and doing this in front of David made him feel painfully self-conscious. He reached around and tilted Kaidan's head forward… glanced at David… then leaned in and offered a modest bite to Kaidan’s neck.

But David wasn’t having it. "Bite him hard, you pansy. What are you, a five-year-old?"

Shepard glared at him... then bit Kaidan hard and held the bite for a long moment. Without the slightest protest, the omega slumped in his arms, sliding sideways to lean heavily against Shepard's shoulder. His entire body relaxed and he let out a faint, mewling sound.

"See?" David said triumphantly. And then his tone changed to one of cold warning. "And if you ever, _ever_ use that to control or intimidate an omega, then I will personally call a thousand hells down upon you, you alpha bastard."

Shepard ignored David, stroked Kaidan's hair, then eased him down to rest against the pillows. He was conscious, but not entirely coherent, and he muttered something and reached for Shepard's hand. He took it, squeezing it gently. “Just rest. You’re going to be fine.”

“On that note, I’m going to get out of your hair,” David said, standing up and gathering his things. “I have plenty to do preparing for this case. And yes, I will expect you to pay me,” he said, giving Shepard a wink. “But don’t panic. I’ll give you a hefty discount. This is just the sort of case I like best, and I’m almost – _almost¬_ – tempted to do it for free.”

He turned and let himself out of the room, leaving Shepard to care for his tired and hurting omega.


	5. The Truth, or Thereabouts

Kaidan allowed Shepard to lead him into their apartment, feeling far better for being home, but still a long way from comfortable. And adding to his irritation over the arrest and David’s arrival was the fact that his body was behaving erratically, with no apparent cause or pattern. One minute he was cold, the next he was hot. His abdomen was aching, blood still seeping from his passage, but he also felt the strangest urge to mate with Shepard. They hadn’t been together since the heat – neither of them had had the desire for it the first few days, and then Kaidan had taken the birth control pills. And, of course, they’d been separated. And according to all common sense, he shouldn’t be feeling the urge now. He was tired, aching, feeling disgusted with his own body’s functions and wanting nothing more than a long sleep.

But as Shepard shut the door behind them, sealing themselves back inside their own private space, Kaidan was shocked to feel himself harden. And even more surprised to feel a stark craving for Shepard’s touch. He frowned, ignored the feeling, and went to take a shower. 

The shower didn’t help. He couldn’t get the water the right temperature, feeling it was either burning or freezing him. The wash cloth felt too rough and the soap left his skin feeling dry and tight. He dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, and contemplated getting something to eat… but the nausea was playing up again, and he swallowed hard, took a deep breath in the hope that it would settle.

Fuck, this world was screwed up. Self-determination act be damned, there was no equality between the genders. What the betas had achieved with their laws and politics was nothing more than beta-domination, with both alphas and omegas made scapegoats for their natural biology. 

How dare they arrest Shepard for raping him, when Kaidan himself denied the charge?

He headed back to the living room, finding Shepard snacking on toast and skimming through documents on his omni-tool. No doubt David had already sent him some pertinent information. For all his dislike of the man, David was every bit as sharp and diligent as Shepard had said he was. And as an omega himself, he had a vested interest in seeing cases like this go in the omega’s favor.

Kaidan got a drink of water from the kitchen, his throat feeling dry, and once he’d finished it, he bent over and leaned on the counter, cushioning his head on his arms, his abdomen aching again, a fine sheen of sweat suddenly breaking out over his body.

Moments later he heard footsteps behind him, and Shepard arrived at his side, hand stroking his back. “You should go to bed. You look exhausted.”

And Kaidan would have agreed, a long sleep sounding heavenly… except for the fact that the instant Shepard had touched him, that damned erection had come rushing back. Kaidan shifted uncomfortably, feeling his cock throbbing eagerly between his legs, while the rest of him had no interest whatsoever in sex. 

What the fuck was going on with him?

And then Shepard leaned down and sniffed his neck.

“Come to bed,” he said, his voice sounding suddenly rough. Kaidan let himself be guided back to the bedroom, Shepard switching off lights as they went, and then he was laying down in the dark, feeling gentle, calloused hands stripping his t-shirt off him.

He was fairly sure that Shepard had no lascivious intentions, was merely trying to make him comfortable, but his body had no such understanding of the situation. His breathing had quickened, his temperature spiking, and against all odds, he felt a flush of moisture in his back passage – not blood this time, but lubricant. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, shifting his legs, trying to find a position that didn’t make him want to shove his hand down his pants and jerk himself off…

“What was that?” Shepard had stripped his own shirt off, and his voice sounded pained. He was lying on the other side of the bed, and Kaidan had the fleeting thought that Shepard was trying hard not to touch him at all as they lay in bed together. 

“I just…” The urge was too strong, and Kaidan shifted over to press himself against Shepard’s side. “I need you.” 

Shepard tensed, made an uncertain sound. “Kaidan… you’re tired. And sore.” He paused… then gasped in a tight breath. “And fuck, you smell good…”

A glance down through the darkness confirmed what Kaidan suddenly suspected. Shepard had a raging erection, tented prominently in his pants, and his harsh, quiet admission lined up with Kaidan’s thought that he must be producing a bucket-load of pheromones, inciting a matching lust in his mate.

Unable to help himself, Kaidan took Shepard’s hand and pressed it down over his groin. “Touch me,” he asked weakly. “I need you…”

“You’re in no condition for anything like that.”

And Shepard was right. But Kaidan’s body didn’t care. “You don’t have to fuck me. Just touch me.” And Shepard seemed equally unable to deny the driving urges, as he instantly slid his hand inside Kaidan’s pants, tugged them down with his other hand as the one inside went to work, molding Kaidan’s cock, stroking, his grip hot and firm, his touch practiced and his moans matching Kaidan’s as that blissful touch brought him to the brink of an orgasm… and then over the edge, his seed pulsing out into Shepard’s large hand.

“Now you,” Kaidan said, tugging Shepard’s pants open as he wiped his hand on a tissue.

“No, you can’t… we can’t have sex. You’re not well enough.”

And there was the fly in the ointment. Shepard couldn’t climax without being inside him-

Kaidan darted up off the bed suddenly, ignoring Shepard’s baffled questions as he rooted around in the closet, in the dark… and emerged a moment later with a box. He pulled out the items inside and dropped the box on the floor carelessly, while a part of him wondered where all his sanity had gone, and what the hell he thought he was doing? He squirted a dollop of lube into his hand and hastily spread it over Shepard’s cock… doing his best to further arouse the man in the process. And judging by Shepard’s quick, harsh breathing, he was doing a damned good job of it…

And then he grabbed the alpha pro, without even asking if Shepard was on board with this, and guided his straining erection inside it.

“Oh fuck…Kaidan!” That definitely wasn’t a cry of protest, and Kaidan thrust the tube back and forth… then felt Shepard roll them both over, landing on top of him, Kaidan’s legs spread, his hand still gripping the alpha pro as Shepard settled between his legs, and then Shepard was thrusting inside it, Kaidan fighting to hold it still, while Shepard leaned down and kissed him senseless. 

“Fuck… love you,” the alpha whispered, his grip on Kaidan tightening. “Need you so much…” and then he was coming, crying out in what sounded almost like pain, pressing himself hard against Kaidan’s stomach as he pushed inside the device. Kaidan felt the rubber expand in his hand and felt an utterly bizarre sense of triumph as Shepard’s knot swelled against him.

Shepard collapsed, then rolled to the side. Kaidan went with him, tucking his head in against his shoulder and throwing a leg over his. They lay in silence for a long moment, slowly catching their breath. And then Shepard stirred.

“What the hell…?”

“We were separated,” Kaidan said, suddenly realising the utterly obvious truth about what had just happened. “And this is apparently the result, when we get back together.”

Shepard made a noise of agreement, slightly surprised, more than a little satisfied. “I love you,” he said, kissing Kaidan again, more gently this time.

“Love you too,” he replied, stroking a lazy hand over Shepard’s abs. Thick, hard muscles, warm skin, familiar scars… his hand drifted lower, grazing through the coarse hair that framed the point where his cock disappeared inside the alpha pro, then lower, over his thighs, up, inside, to caress his balls. 

“You had me worried for a while there,” Shepard admitted, his body twitching slightly at Kaidan’s erotic explorations. 

“Oh?”

“When I first arrived at the hospital. I thought you were mad at me.”

“What? I was desperate to see you! Why the hell would I be mad at you?”

“David.”

Kaidan let out an annoyed grumble. “Smug bastard. I don’t like him,” he said honestly. “But that’s got nothing to do with how I feel about you.”

“But you didn’t-“ The words were cut off sharply.

“I didn’t what?”

“I was pumping out enough pheromones to have the nurses ducking for cover. But when I held you… I couldn’t smell you at all. There was just… nothing.”

Kaidan shrugged. “Can’t explain it. But believe me, Shepard, I wanted you there.” He stroked the man’s jaw, leaned up to kiss him softly. “I’m lost without you.”

Shepard made a humming noise and tugged Kaidan closer. “Likewise.” And then he chuckled in the darkness. “And I never thought I would be so damn glad you bought this toy for me,” he said, his hand shifting the alpha pro to lie more comfortably across his belly. “Best invention in the whole world.”

 

 

A sharp knock at the door interrupted breakfast, and Kaidan scowled at Shepard. “If that’s David, I’m going to take him outside and teach him some manners,” he complained, sounding like he meant the words with all seriousness. And Shepard could well believe it. After a solid night’s sleep in each other’s arms, they were both feeling a lot better this morning. Kaidan’s cramps had all but ended, and the padding showed that he’d only bled a little during the night. 

But it was only 8 am, and given the day they’d endured yesterday, he’d have thought David would have been a little more considerate-

“I heard you had been arrested,” Cortez said as soon as Shepard opened the door, concern written all over his face. “Somebody must have been keeping things under wraps, because I only heard this morning. Came straight over.”

“Thanks for coming.” Shepard shook his hand and ushered him inside the apartment. 

“How did you hear about it?” Kaidan asked, wiping his mouth on a napkin. He hadn’t finished breakfast yet, finding himself famished this morning, now that the nausea seemed to have eased off.

“It’s on the news. Every channel. They say you’re up on rape charges?” He looked at Shepard, then back at Kaidan in disbelief.

“Because of what happened on Mavigon,” Kaidan explained shortly. Steve was familiar enough with the details to know the implications of that dire episode. “Apparently the victim of a rape stating that the crime didn’t happen is _not_ sufficient evidence to close the case.”

“Oh. That’s rather… inconvenient.” And wasn’t that putting it mildly. Shepard poured Steve a cup of coffee, then they both joined Kaidan at the table.

Steve activated his omni-tool and pulled up a vid of the report. 

“And just repeating that earlier news, for those of you who’ve just joined us,” the reporter was saying, “Commander Shepard, the man credited with coordinating the battle that defeated the Reapers, has been arrested. While details of the charges are unclear, it has been confirmed that the arrest is connected to Shepard’s very public relationship with Kaidan Alenko, a Major in the Alliance, and an omega. Shepard publicly declared himself to be an alpha some weeks ago, and the announcement of their relationship sparked both widespread condemnation and support. It has further been revealed that Shepard might be linked to what has become known as ‘The List’, a detailed list of instructions designed to assist omegas who are being forced to go through a heat. Speculation on the origin of The List has been rife, but it’s impossible to say at this stage whether Shepard is, in fact, connected to it-“

Steve muted the sound and turned to Shepard with a speculative look. “There have been rallying calls among omegas across the planet. Some are calling for your blood, while others are denying you could possibly have done it – whatever _it_ is – and are willing to defend you to the death.”

Kaidan and Shepard looked at each other in sudden understanding. “David,” Shepard concluded easily, realising that the omega must have leaked the information. “Fuck, when he said we were going to fight the politics, he wasn’t kidding.”

“But this just means we have to make a counter statement to get the truth out,” Kaidan said, sounding worried. “If there are omegas who think you’re guilty, that’s only going to harm our position in the long run-“

He was interrupted by a ping on Shepard’s omni-tool, and Shepard checked the sender… then broke into a wide grin. “Allers,” he greeted the woman warmly as he activated the connection. “I would ask what I can do for you, but I think I can already guess.”

“An exclusive interview,” the eager woman said. “The truth behind the accusations. You didn’t do it, did you?” she asked suddenly, sounding worried.

“No. Are you in London?”

“No, but I can be by 1200 hours. And I can pay you 5000 credits for the interview.”

“Done,” Shepard said. “I’ll send you the address.” He cut the connection.

“Isn’t there a court order banning you from speaking to the media?” Steve asked. 

“Yes,” Shepard said. “But that only applies to me and Kaidan. There are plenty of other people who could… speculate on the truth.”

It took Steve a moment to catch on… and then he laughed. “Okay, okay, consider it done. I’m sure I could round up a few more people who would be willing to comment.” 

“Excellent. But that means we should get David around here sooner rather than later,” Shepard said to Kaidan. “Just to make sure we don’t do anything that’s going to harm the case.”

Kaidan sighed. “Okay. Fine. Call the bastard.” But there was no real protest in his voice.

Moments later the call had been made, and Shepard turned his attention back to Steve.

“So… How’s Jonn?”

Steve broke into a smile, and Shepard felt his heart warm at the eager tenderness in the expression. He’d always hoped Jonn would land on his feet – though realism had made him acknowledge that the odds were against him – and it was heartening to see Steve taking such an interest in him. “He’s doing well. Just finished his mid-term exams. Passed with flying colors.”

“Good to hear. And you’re still together?”

Steve nodded, his cheeks heating a little. “Yeah. It’s…” A smile pulled at the edge of his mouth, then was replaced with a sadder expression. “It’s good. But it’s difficult. He’s been through a lot, and trusting people doesn’t come easily to him.”

“I can imagine.”

“Mostly it’s… he thinks the relationship is based on nothing but sex. It took him a week to tell me how his exams had gone. And when I asked him why he’d waited so long, he said he didn’t think I would be interested.”

Shepard inhaled a sharp breath. “Ouch.”

“Yeah. I don’t want to stop sleeping with him. Sometimes it feels like that’s the only thing keeping us together. But on the other hand, I need some way to show him he means more to me than that.”

“No simple answers, huh? Same place we all end up, eventually.”

“Right. But we live in hope.”

“That we do,” Shepard agreed. “Though it makes fools of us all, we still do.”


	6. Perspective

Jonn stared at his exam results, feeling a burst of pride… and a wave of fear. He’d passed. Passed three subjects with Credits, and one with a Distinction! He’d spent his childhood having people tell him he was stupid, and here was the proof that they had all been wrong. Okay, so he wasn’t great with words. He couldn’t write an essay to save his life, and his spelling was atrocious… but when the engineering course had asked him to design things… he’d come to life. Pictures, diagrams, the intricate way that mass effect fields interacted with matter and electricity… It had all made sense. And he wasn’t half bad at maths, either. The answers were all in black and white – either the figures added up, or they didn’t. There was none of the vagaries of language, the nearly-there-but-not-quite, the nuances, the subtext. The equations either worked in elegant fluidity, rendering a shuttle weightless in a planet’s gravitational field… or things ended in a massive explosion.

Which was not to say he hadn’t caused his fair share of explosions, in the academy’s simulated construction program. His first three shuttles had crashed, one of them killing three of its virtual crew on impact. But he’d learned from his mistakes. And his latest design had drawn applause from the entire class. He’d never felt so proud in his life.

But in the real world, he was back into the grey area, the half-truths and maybes and nuances of emotion and tone of voice that had him cringing with every word. 

Steve Cortez was a pilot, a highly accomplished master of his craft. He was a member of the Alliance, a friend of Commander Shepard, a survivor of the war with the reapers. 

What the hell was he doing slumming it with a guy like Jonn?

Half the time, he thought the only thing keeping them together was the sex. And he loved the sex, no mistake about it, having a huge alpha knot shoved up inside him, feeling so safe and secure, with Steve wrapped around his body, holding him tight…

But outside the bedroom, the only thing Steve really seemed interested in was his grades. He’d tried to explain one of his assignments to the alpha – he’d failed the lesson, and had had to repeat it in his spare time, but he’d had an idea for rerouting the heat couplings to regain energy from the heat… and Steve had shut him down. Oh, he’d been all encouraging about it, on the surface at least, telling him that he could succeed at the class, that he just needed to persist and try again… but he hadn’t listened to his ideas. He hadn’t been the slightest bit interested in _why_ Jonn had failed the class.

And so Jonn was working twice as hard to maintain the man’s attention in the bedroom, to compensate for his lack of interest in his daily life. He’d been stunned when Steve had contacted him after his heat was over, asking him out for a coffee… and then to dinner… and then they’d ended up back in Steve’s bedroom, with Jonn being reminded in vivid detail just why he’d enjoyed his heat so very much….

And it seemed that so long as Jonn kept his ass available, then Steve was happy to have him around.

But… a growing part of him was beginning to think that it wasn’t enough. He’d grown up in the Terminus Systems, where people were never your friend, they were just not trying to kill you today, and where pain only made people stronger… or so he’d been told. He hadn’t felt strong when he’d limped into the military hospital, desperate for an answer to his impending heat, and not willing to trust anyone to give him the truth about what it would be like. And he’d been through enough pain to last two lifetimes. If that hadn’t made him strong, then what ever would?

Steve had been a godsend, letting him discover the truth about the heat in comfort and safety… But now, on the far side of all that trauma and anticipation and pleasure, Jonn just felt… sad. He had a bright future ahead of him. Or so everyone said. Just like everyone had said he was stupid, as a child, and that he would never amount to anything. 

And he believed them even less, this time around.

But what he really wanted to know was what he had to do to be worthy of a man like Steve Cortez. He couldn’t fight in the reaper war – the reapers were all dead. He couldn’t discover a new planet, or a new species of alien, or invent a reliable means of FTL travel… he just designed shuttles and manipulated mass effect fields… and wondered when Steve would get sick of him and kick him out.

 

 

“Oh, for goodness sake, would you stop flaring at me! I don’t want to steal your boyfriend!” David glared at Kaidan, who glared right back. They were seated around the dining table, examining file after file on military precedents and the details of the Self-Determination Act. Which was far larger and more extensive than Kaidan had ever realised.

“Stop whating at you?”

“Flaring. When your eyes go all yellow. That’s what they called it, back in the day. You know, when omegas were still slaves.” It was only because David was also an omega that Kaidan let the reference to slavery slide. But his glare did get a degree or two colder.

“Been doing some research?” Shepard asked mildly.

“Of course. I know a lot of omegas, and oh, shock horror, apparently the bonding is more common than we all thought. There’s a wealth of information on it, when you know where to look. And take a look at this…” He fiddled with his omni-tool, then Kaidan’s pinged. 

He opened the file… and saw that it was a diary. The first entry was dated March 12, 1874. “What the hell is this?”

“A journal written by an omega slave. One of the few who could read and write. I found it in the French National Library. Had it translated. Seems he’d fallen in love with his master, and they’d bonded. It starts soon after the omega’s master died and goes on for three years. The last entry is quite sad.” David flicked through the file to the end. “It reads, ‘This winter has been harsher than usual. It seems I have caught the flu and no amount of cosseting from the housekeeper can shift it. Though, in all honesty, I am quite content if this is my time to be taken. I miss my master unbearably, and would happily join him in the next life.’ Nothing else is written, so one has to assume he died shortly after. It’s a fascinating read. He only started writing it after his bonded alpha died, but it goes into a lot of detail about the bonding and the effect it had on their lives.”

“Who was he? Is there a name anywhere?”

“No. Neither for the omega nor the alpha. He lived somewhere south of Paris, but that’s the only identifying factor. The rest is a mystery.”

“This is fascinating,” Shepard interrupted, “but we have a court case to win-“

“Ah, but this is all relevant,” David insisted, and there was that smug grin that Kaidan hated so much. “I’ve compiled a database of all the effects and consequences of the bonding process, along with details of the omegas’ heat – both physical and psychological – and I’ve published a few papers on the subject. Of course, science by itself never changed anyone’s opinions, but it at least gets people thinking. And one of the things we’re going to have to do is prove that Kaidan was capable of consenting to the mating on Mavigon. So the more you two know about the way your own bodies work, the better.”

David got up to help himself to more coffee while Shepard and Kaidan continued reading the data he’d brought with him. “The other problem we’re going to have,” the lawyer went on conversationally, “is that alphas are still considered to be insensitive brutes who are focused on nothing but sex all the time. Most lawyers won’t touch a case that involves defending an alpha. Omegas have the limelight, socially speaking, and a lawyer who prosecutes a randy alpha gets all kinds of kudos for it. But a lawyer who defends an alpha – particularly when he wins the case – gets demonized for aiding the devil in keeping all those omegas as downtrodden victims.”

“I doubt that would have stopped you,” Shepard observed, raising an eyebrow at David, and the omega smirked. 

“Of course not. You know me better than that.” He patted Shepard’s shoulder on his way back to his seat-

Kaidan was out of his chair in an instant, grabbing David by the collar the dragging him across the room, the coffee cup shattering on the floor. He slammed the man up against the wall and growled, “You keep your fucking hands to yourself, you cocksucking son of a bitch-“

“Kaidan!” Shepard shoved him backwards, physically separating the pair and standing between them as they glared at each other. David pointedly straightened his jacket… and then Kaidan went for him again, Shepard nearly having to tackle him to keep him from rearranging David’s face. Again.

“For someone who knows all about alpha-omega bonding, you seem to be going out of your way to piss Kaidan off,” Shepard observed dryly, as he tried to prevent his own kitchen from becoming a war zone.

“Sorry,” David apologised again, sounding like he meant it. “I’ve never actually had to deal with…”

“With?” Kaidan prompted, maintaining the glare even as Shepard edged him back towards his seat.

“With jealousy from an omega. It just hasn’t come up in any of the couples I’ve worked with. I’m sorry, I’m as much in the dark here as you are.”

“Sit down,” Shepard told them both… and Kaidan did so only because his alpha was running a soothing hand up and down the back of his neck, and fuck, that felt good…

Shepard went to clean up the mess of coffee and ceramic shards, keeping an eye on both omegas as he did. “Let’s assume for the moment that omegas get as territorial as alphas do, okay? I’m assuming you know all about alpha aggression?” he asked, and David nodded cooperatively. “So there’s a nice, easy benchmark for you. Don’t touch me, don’t flirt with me, don’t reference anything even vaguely sexual, and hopefully I won’t have to stop Kaidan from killing you.”

“Noted,” David said meekly, and went back to sorting through his files.

 

 

“Jonn?” Steve stepped into his apartment, hoping Jonn hadn’t gone out for the day-

“Yeah?” came a muffled reply from the kitchen. He headed that way and found Jonn with his head buried in a cupboard, unpacking the groceries he’d just bought.

“Hey.” He went over the kissed his omega on the forehead, earning a bashful smile. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Okay.”

“Actually… it’s not so much for me, as it is for Shepard.”

Jonn’s eyes widened. “ _Commander_ Shepard?”

“Yeah. Have you heard what happened to him?”

Jonn shook his head and shrugged. “No, but I’d do him a favor any day. He saved my life.”

“He was arrested on rape charges. And the Alliance is up in arms about the clinic he ran at the hospital-“

Jonn leapt back, looking at Steve in horror. “No!” he said in vehement denial, and for a moment, Steve thought he was horrified about the fact that his hero had been arrested… “No, I’m not going to defend someone who rapes omegas!”

What? “No! God, no, he didn’t do it!” Steve said in alarm. “He would never do anything like that. It’s just the Alliance wanting to flex their muscle, and he’s a convenient scapegoat.”

“Oh… well… that’s okay then.” Jonn calm down again, though he still looked disturbed by the news. “So what happened?”

Steve led the boy over to the table to sit down, then he took his time explaining what had happened on Mavigon, the resulting relationship between the pair, and the current fuss about the clinic.

“So… you said everyone who participated in the clinic has been suspended. Does that mean I could be arrested for having sex with you?”

“No. You’re a civilian. Which is actually why we need your help. Everyone in the Alliance has been forbidden from talking to the media about the clinic.” Fortunately, the ban didn’t extend to Shepard’s arrest, and Steve was determined to take full advantage of that loophole. “But since you’re not part of the Alliance, they have no jurisdiction over you. So we need you to make a few statements to the media about the clinic, and the fact that it helped you deal with a very bad situation. There weren’t many civilians who attended the clinic in the first place, and most of them have since moved on.”

“But the media always twists people’s words,” Jonn pointed out with a pout. “I’m not smart enough to outwit a journalist.”

“Shepard knows one who owes him a favour. Or three. She’s on our side, and she’s not going to take anything out of context.”

Jonn thought about that for a moment. “Okay, yeah. I can do that.” A sly grin lit his face. “Shepard has a lot of people who owe him favours, yeah? It’d be nice to do one for him for once.”

For all that the boy’s idolizing of Shepard seemed innocent, Steve felt a stab of jealousy at his words. It was irrational and illogical… but Shepard was an alpha. A powerful one. And Jonn was an impressionable omega with a crush on his hero. And suddenly, despite the need to get Shepard a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card, Steve wanted nothing more that to keep the two of them far away from each other.


	7. Affection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delayed posting of this chapter. Work has been crazy lately, so I haven’t been in the right headspace to write, and I had to re-write this chapter 3 times because the mood was all wrong and I couldn’t figure out how to link all the subplots of the fic together, and the characters just wouldn’t talk to me. Still, it’s done now, so I hope you enjoy it.

Shepard winced as he felt his cock throb. Kaidan was at it again, filling the room with pheromones that made it all but impossible to do anything other than drag the man into the bedroom and fuck his brains out. He actually smelled a lot like he did during his heat – the difference being that he was still not well, the bleeding persisting, albeit a light flow, and Shepard knew he was still tired from the stress of the past few days. As his bonded alpha, he was caught between two equally pressing desires – one, to protect his omega and avoid anything that might cause him pain or injury, and two, to mate with him until neither of them could walk straight.

Unfortunately, given current circumstances, the two desires were mutually exclusive.

Shepard yawned, setting aside the document he had been trying to read. David had left around 6 pm, all of them tired and irritable by then, having spent the day plowing through a decade’s worth of court cases. And, of course, there had been the interviews with Allers. 

Though she was a beta, she was well informed about the politics surrounding omegas. She’d done a terrific job, treating the subject matter with respect, going out of her way to help young Jonn feel relaxed, and proving her willingness to use every trick in her vast repertoire to report the full depth of the story, but still not breach the various court orders muzzling Shepard and Kaidan from making any real comment. Information had been supplied by ‘a reliable source’, the details were disguised as speculation, and Steve had acted as ‘a close friend of the accused’, to declare that he had witnessed the closeness between the pair and found it very difficult to believe that they had anything but the most respectful, supportive relationship.

But, despite his willingness to assist, Steve had seemed out of sorts all day, quieter than usual, and Shepard had caught more than one glare aimed in Jonn’s direction. Steve had mentioned the couple were having problems, but he hadn’t thought it was as serious as this…

Jonn, for his part, had been nervous but helpful. Given that the clinic wasn’t yet public knowledge, Allers had agreed to sit on the story for the time being – there was still a slim chance that the Alliance might decide to sweep the whole thing under the rug with an official reprimand or twelve, and they didn’t want to risk blowing their own chance at ‘softly, quietly’ due to an overzealous need to defend themselves. So Jonn had made a few unremarkable statements detailing his fears about going into heat, and the fact that the clinic had given him the respectful choice to go through with a mating, or choose to tackle the heat alone. A more extensive interview might be needed later, but for the time being, Shepard had felt there was no need to stress the boy more than necessary. For now, the interview was simply a card they could play, if and when the time came.

A light shuffle from the kitchen caught Shepard’s attention again, and he cursed quietly to himself as he looked up and saw Kaidan sitting at the table, a data pad in his hand and a telltale bulge in his pants.

Last night, Shepard had tried his hardest to resist the lure of the pheromones, knowing that it wasn’t intentional, that it was merely a chemical reaction to their circumstances… but fuck, the driving sexual arousal had him actually shaking in his seat. Surely he could overcome this with a little mind over matter… 

But then, as he watched, Kaidan reached down and adjusted himself, looking entirely uncomfortable… and quite against his will, Shepard found himself standing up and walking over to his mate.

“Kaidan…”

Kaidan looked up at him, and his eyes dilated as they met Shepard’s. “Fuck…” he breathed, gaze dropping to Shepard’s erection.

“We shouldn’t-“ Shepard began.

“Need you,” Kaidan said simply, launching himself into Shepard’s arms, and he caught him easily, feeling a surge of possessiveness that drove out all rational thought. They kissed as Shepard guided them into the bedroom, wet, open mouthed meetings of lips and tongue, and then he was tumbling Kaidan back onto the bed, pulling his pants down and swallowing his cock down his throat without preamble. And oh fuck, the scent of him was all the more potent down here. Shepard sucked and licked him like his life depended on it, making Kaidan come once, and then carrying right on, his hands getting involved now, to cup his balls and tease his opening… ever careful not to press inside, aware that he was sore and bleeding… and then Kaidan came again, and Shepard had to fight hard not to climax himself at the sound and feel and taste of it.

“Fuck… need… Kaidan, can you get…” If he moved an inch, he was going to come, and he really didn’t need that kind of pain right now…

Kaidan darted off the bed, retrieving the alpha pro… Shepard bit his lip hard, concentrating on the pain to stop himself coming as Kaidan prepped him… but the instant he was inside the device, he came like a rocket, panting breaths drawing in more of that fantastic scent, his heart pounding, his vision clouding from the pleasure… and then the tightness around his knot sent another wave of pleasure through him, and he collapsed on the bed. Kaidan settled against him, and he realised they were both still fully dressed.

“This is nuts,” Kaidan complained, his hand slipping beneath Shepard’s shirt to stroke his skin compulsively. “Didn’t we do this just yesterday?”

“But we were apart for three days,” Shepard pointed out, still trying to catch his breath. “Maybe it takes longer for our chemistry to readjust.”

“If you get convicted and go to jail, it’s going to kill us,” Kaidan said flatly, and Shepard felt a lurch in his chest.

“Fuck…”

“What do we do?”

“Figure out a way out of this. What else can we do?”

 

Steve followed Jonn into their apartment, feeling a surge of pride in his young partner. “You did really well today,” he said once he had closed the door. “Thank you.” He leaned down to kiss him.

“It’s not just about doing someone a favour,” Jonn griped, pulling away before their lips could meet and heading for the kitchen. “I’m an omega. And I might not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but even I can figure out that the mating clinic is going to cause a shitstorm with the powers that be. So it’s more like… I don’t know… joining the fight to make a better future for omegas.”

Steve stared after him in surprise. He’d been prickly all day, but Steve had yet to figure out what the boy was upset about. “I hadn’t realised you cared about politics.”

Jonn shot him a dirty look. “It’s not about politics. I get to go to school and study to be an engineer because someone else bled for that a few decades ago. And when I go to work, I can do it knowing that some randy alpha isn’t going to jump me in a back alley, because that’s illegal now, and did you know there have been three hundred successful rape cases against alphas in the past year alone, and that there’s an omega serving on the board of fourteen different companies, and over ten thousand omegas serving in the Alliance. I can read, Steve. I’ve read the history books. So don’t patronize me for being brave enough to sit with a reporter in Shepard’s living room and tell her that I was scared to go through my heat and now it’s all better.”

Steve gaped after the young man as he stomped away into their bedroom. What the fuck? He followed him, utterly confused about what had brought this on. “Jonn? I’m not having a go at you here. I’m just trying to say thank you for helping my friend.”

“But it’s not just your friend,” Jonn said, and Steve got the impression he was fighting for patience. “The omegas at the clinic chose their own path. They chose to be mated, and there’s nothing in the self-determination act that says we’re allowed to do that. It’s all about how we’re allowed to refuse sex at every turn, but nothing about us being allowed to get laid. Ever. Have you read that pile of dogshit? It treats omegas like we’re all five year olds, too stupid to know how to put on our own shoes properly. Are they going to arrest you? You know, for being part of the clinic?”

It was only weeks of practice at listening to Jonn’s rambles that allowed Steve to keep up now. He’d made mistakes early on in their relationship, tuning out as the boy flitted from one topic to the next, and had been caught out when he’d asked a pertinent question that Steve hadn’t been paying attention to. This time, he caught the question easily… but still had no clear answer to it. “I don’t know. Maybe. They’ve suspended everyone involved, but they’re still deciding what to do next.”

Jonn frowned. “Yeah. But everyone had consent forms, right? So you didn’t do anything illegal. But you and me are still living together, and five different people at school have called me a knot slut for being with you, and I only punched one of them, but fuck, I wanted to have a go at the others, but I’m not an alpha, so I don’t get to be all aggressive and shit when people piss me off, cos then people just think I’m really weird. But if my dick was a lot bigger than it is, then I could hit people when someone insults my boyfriend, and no one would think anything of it.”

“Who’s giving you a hard time?” The words came out with the threat of murder in every word. People had been bullying Jonn for being an omega? A surge of fury rose up and threatened to choke him. How dare they-

“It’s fine! Fuck… I can deal with it myself. Just because I’m an omega doesn’t mean I don’t know how to look after myself. I kept me and my brother alive for years in the Terminus Systems. I can deal with a few snotty betas looking down their nose at me.”

“Jonn! I’m not trying to belittle you! I just want to help-“

“Yeah? Then how about you start by listening to what’s important to me, and not just jumping in like some cave man.”

Steve gaped at him. Denying his accusation was the first impulse he had… but then he stopped himself. He’d figured out early on that Jonn was used to having people not listen to him, which was why he tended to repeat himself and exaggerate a lot, and he’d promised himself he’d never be like that…

He forced himself to calm down. “Okay,” he agreed cautiously. Had be been ignoring the boy? Really? “Well, then, I’d have to say that…” How should he phrase this? “I’m not sure which part of this conversation is the most important.” 

Jonn sighed. “I don’t want you to be arrested,” he said in a small voice. “And I want to help Shepard. People are going to get angry. Cos he saved our entire species, and now they’re trying to pretend he’s the bad guy. Why are they doing that?”

Steve tugged Jonn closer and looped his arms lightly around his shoulders. “Because he’s an alpha. And because he’s pushing the boundaries of everything alphas and omegas are supposed to be. And despite all the media focus, it’s not just omegas who are being pressured to be something they’re not. Alphas are getting a raw deal as well, but no one wants to admit it. And if they didn’t arrest him then they’d have to concede that alphas and omegas can have relationships with each other… and that idea scares a lot of people.”

“People are stupid.”

“A lot of the time, yeah, we are.”

“If Shepard needs my help again then I’m good with that. If he needs me to talk to another reporter, or give evidence in court, or anything. That’d be fine.”

Despite Jonn’s tirade about omega rights, the idea that he’d be willing to front court was still a shock… and Steve realised that maybe he was underestimating the young man. “Thank you,” he said, aware of the admiration in his voice, and he briefly wondered what Jonn would think of that, whether he’d take it as a compliment, or consider it patronising and get angry again…

 

Jonn heard the genuine gratitude in Steve’s voice, and felt a wave of pride. Finally! Finally his alpha saw that he was worth something, was capable of more than getting good grades and pimping his ass out in exchange for a place to live. Because he didn’t pay anything in rent here, and even though he worked hard at the chores, doing the shopping and the laundry and cooking some of the meals… he still felt like he was kind of a freeloader. Steve had brushed it off, saying he wanted Jonn to finish school, and then, once he was earning some proper money, he could contribute financially. He had a part time job, five hours a week, which was just enough to pay for his own expenses and his shuttle fare to and from the academy, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover any of the rent and the food bill. 

So, despite Steve’s assurances, he still had lingering doubts that he wasn’t a part time hooker as well. What else could you call it when you slept with someone in exchange for food and a place to live?

Previously he’d living in the dorms at the academy. But the rooms were tiny and the food was awful, and he much preferred it here with Steve.

But tonight, for the first time, it felt like he was meeting Steve on equal footing. Okay, so he wasn’t a war hero or anything like that, but he had done something useful today, useful to Shepard, and useful to the omega movement, and for once, he wanted sex just for his own enjoyment, with no hint of using it to keep his alpha happy. He stepped forward, feeling a crooked smile on his lips, and reached up to kiss Steve.

 

Steve couldn’t help but smile as Jonn tugged him towards the bed. He was young – not quite twenty years old – and had a libido that matched his age. He wanted sex almost every night, and wanted five or six climaxes each time Steve knotted him. And though Steve was only in his late twenties, Jonn’s stamina sometimes made him feel old, well past his prime and on the downhill slope…

The young man’s body was filling out with muscle now that he had a steady diet of good food – for perhaps the first time in his life. The thin, weedy boy was disappearing, replaced with an athletic young man, his confidence growing by the day, the nervous, hunted look slowly fading out as he learned to deal with the surprises life threw his way.

And his skills in the bedroom had surged ahead in leaps and bounds, a far cry now from the skittish virgin who had stuttered and fumbled his way through his first experience with sex. He had no fear of telling Steve exactly what he wanted, and was more than willing to experiment.

Steve stripped Jonn’s shirt off, then his own, wrapping his arms around his waist to feel warm, smooth skin against his own. Jonn buried his hands in Steve’s hair, then slid a hand down his spine, all the way to his ass, pressing their groins closer together. “Fuck, I want you…” Jonn breathed, diving in to undo Steve’s pants. Steve felt his breath leave him in a rush as Jonn slid a talented hand inside… and then he knelt down, wrapping his mouth around Steve’s cock, taking in as much of it as he could manage… and fuck, the things he could do with his tongue! He let his head fall back, stroking Jonn’s hair as he worked on him. 

Long minutes later, Jonn stood up again, stripping off his own pants, his movements quick and sure, his balance perfect. “Suck me,” he asked, his voice breathless with desire, and then he scampered onto the bed, laying back against the pillows with his legs spread. Steve was only too happy to comply, crawling up the bed to reach him, then bending down to take the full length of Jonn’s small cock into his mouth at once. 

This was not an uncommon thing between them, but when he glanced up at Jonn a minute or two later, Steve was slightly surprised to see the boy staring back at him with a look of almost predatory longing. For all his growing confidence, he’d always seemed happier to let Steve take the lead, and this self-assured, demanding creature was unexpected. 

But certainly not unwelcome.

Deciding he could try a little daring of his own, Steve shifted his hand from where it was cupping Jonn’s thigh and pressed two fingers up inside his passage without warning. He found his prostate unerringly and smirked around the cock in his mouth as Jonn came a second later, his firm abs contracting, his hips bucking, his heels digging into the mattress.

Steve swallowed the fluid that pumped into his mouth, then crawled up his lover’s body, stopping here and there for a taste, a passing exploration of the line of a muscle, a tantalising dip, until he reached his throat, and licked the skin over Jonn’s pulse, inhaling his unique omega scent-

Steve found himself suddenly flipped onto his back, Jonn straddling him, looking more than a little pleased with himself.

“How did you-?”

“One of the guys at school taught me that.” With no further explanation, Jonn reached behind himself and took hold of Steve’s cock, pressing it inside himself with a faint moan. And it was only then that Steve realised his still had his pants on – mostly, at least – but he didn’t dwell on it for long as Jonn set a quick pace, hands on Steve’s thighs for balance, head back, mouth open as he fucked himself on Steve’s cock.

That open mouth was just begging for attention, so Steve reached up, gently offered his fingers, and Jonn willingly sucked them into his mouth, his tongue doing the same thing to them that it had done to Steve’s cock just minutes ago.

Steve didn’t last long after that. He groaned, felt himself spurt inside Jonn, then tugged the man down to sit firmly over his groin, lining their bodies up for his knot to swell…

“Oh, fuck, yes…” Jonn breathed, wiggling his ass slightly, making Steve’s eyes roll back in his head. Jonn waited a moment longer, until the knot was full size, then rocked himself back and forth… shooting out his own climax moments later. Having a partner so eager and willing to take his own pleasure was sexy as hell… as were the faint, satisfied noises Jonn was making as he trailed his fingers through his own cum, over Steve’s stomach.

Then he looked around, suddenly struck by an idea. “You know… this is the first time I’ve ever been on top,” he said. Wiggled his ass again. And Steve saw his eyes brighten as his cock sprang back to life. “I kind of like it up here,” he said, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. And then he arched his back, pressed the knot more firmly against his prostate. “Makes me wonder how many times I can make myself come…”


	8. Battleplan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know anything about how military trials are carried out. Apologies to any lawyers or legal gurus in the crowd. I’m a big fan of quality research, but in this case, I’m far more interested in just telling the story than spending hours researching the exact procedures to be followed.

“I hate betas,” David said flatly, glaring at the television in Shepard’s living room, a dozen data pads spread out on the coffee table in front of him. A week had passed since he’d arrived, and he’d become something of a fixture at the apartment. “Have you seen this? It’s a complete farce. And the thing that gets me is that the journalists can’t see it.”

“What’s the problem?” Over the months, Shepard had gotten used to Kaidan bitching about pretty much every news report about omegas, so it was no surprise to have David start in on it now. 

And to be fair, he would have been doing his own share of complaining, except that there had been startlingly few reports about alphas lately. Since the wave of omega heats, it seemed that the alphas - traditionally the more demonized gender – had gone into hiding, perhaps dreading the backlash from so many of them having mated with omegas in the very recent past, or perhaps just glad that someone else was copping the flack for a change. Whatever the cause, the usual slog-fest about alphas starting fights, alphas raping omegas, alphas having high unemployment rates had been swept under the rug while the journalists all focused on the far more illicit situation in which omegas in heat were willingly and deliberately arranging to be mated. God save them all from the moral decay…

“There’s been a spike in the number of pregnancies lately – no surprises there,” David said, “but the breeding centers are pushing for legislation making it illegal for an omega to give birth without being contracted to a center.”

“What?” Shepard hurried over to the television, gaping at the news report in disbelief. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Isn’t it? But the thing is, because we need to maintain our population, and because breeding has been such a taboo thing until late, the government pays each center a fee for each healthy child it produces. Some of that fee is paid to the omega, some to the alpha, and then the center keeps the rest, along with any fee it charges the parents who adopt the child. So they’re worried they’re going to lose a shitload of revenue once kids start popping out left, right and center, and they want to cover their own asses, to hell with the rights of the average Joe on the streets who just wants the freedom to do what he likes with his own body.”

“They’re not taking this shit seriously, are they?”

“That’s not the worst of the stupid,” Kaidan said, arriving in the living room doorway, still rubbing his hair with a towel. “The company that produces the alpha pro is being sued. For contributing to moral decay. Some idiot decided that letting alphas take care of their own sexual needs is going to lead to _more_ sex crimes, rather than less, and a group of omegas who were raped during their heats are taking a group action to court.”

“That’s beyond ridiculous. Although I bet every alpha on the planet has suddenly put in an order for one, incase they do actually get shut down.”

David arched an aristocratic eyebrow. “You seem rather familiar with the alpha pro,” he said suggestively. “Can I assume you’re speaking from experience?”

Shepard’s hand was on Kaidan’s shoulder even before David had finished speaking, cutting off his movement towards decking the man. David caught the promise of violence in Kaidan’s eyes and ducked his head. “Sorry. My bad.”

Shepard fiddled with his collar. He and Kaidan were in dress uniform, the preliminary hearing of his court case due to start in a little over two hours. They were as ready as they could be, given the time constraints, but despite the desire for more time to prepare, Shepard was just as eager to get the thing over with. And since this was only a preliminary hearing, they would have plenty of time to slog through more of the details later. 

“In breaking news,” the reporter said sharply, suddenly tense and alert as she listened to something in her ear piece. “I’ve just received word that… oh my god… could you repeat that, Clive… this is unbelievable… Ladies and gentlemen, reports have just come in that a group of Alliance personnel have been arrested in south London. They were allegedly involved in a large-scale ‘mating clinic’, run on Alliance grounds, but without Alliance authorisation. The clinic was designed to assist omegas going through their heats by… you’re kidding me. Clive, that can’t be right… This is… I’m speechless. The clinic paired up alphas and omegas, all serving members of the Alliance, and… let them mate with each other. A doctor has been charged as the instigator of the clinic, and… by the sounds of it, she basically set up a massive orgy service for her patients. This is obscene-“

Shepard shut the news off, turning to the other two men with a pale face. “They’ve arrested Chakwas.”

“And everyone else involved, by the sounds of it,” Kaidan added. He was cut off by a thumping knock at the door, and Shepard instantly took up a defensive position in front of him. 

“Guess they’re here for you, next,” David said blackly. The knock came again, the door rattling on its hinges, and David stepped forward. “No point letting them break down the door. Ready?” he asked, checking over his shoulder to Shepard. 

He nodded, not at all sure what he was going to do if they tried to take Kaidan away, but prepared to defend him none the less…

“Shepard! They’ve arrested Steve!” Jonn came hurtling in the door and threw himself at Shepard. “They said he’s been charged with breaching non-fraternization regs and bringing the Alliance into disrepute. And I don’t know where they’ve taken him, and I can’t afford to hire a lawyer, and I don’t know what to do-”

“It’s okay! It’s okay…” Shepard pulled the boy into a tight hug, rubbing his back firmly. “Just calm down. We’re going to sort this out.”

“They could have at least fucking told us they were going to do this, since you were pretty much at the center of it,” Kaidan bit out harshly.

“This means you’ll be up on more charges,” David pointed out to Shepard, typing rapidly into his omni-tool. 

“From the sounds of that report, they’re blaming most of this on Chakwas-“

“I wouldn’t believe that for a second,” David countered quickly. “We all know how useless journalists are, and that’s nothing more than rumour and hearsay.”

“So why haven’t I been arrested yet?” Kaidan demanded.

“Maybe they didn’t arrest the omegas,” Shepard suggested. 

“And the way they described it,” Kaidan went on, furious, helpless, outraged. “It was nothing like that! Not some… public orgy run like a pimping service!”

“I could help!” Jonn burst out suddenly. “I could go and talk to that reporter again.” They had talked about this, put together the basic structure of a battle plan should events turn out the way they were currently headed, and one of the keys to the plan was the need to gather widespread public sympathy and support. And given the number of omegas who had been forced through a heat, and been terrified as to the consequences of it, they should be able to rally a significant section of society to their cause. 

But not if the nature of the clinic was slandered in such an unsanitary way. The public needed to understand the lengths they had gone to to empower and respect the participants, the rigorously controlled nature of the program. And as such, Jonn’s first-hand reports would be absolute gold, both for the media, desperate for a juicy story, and for the public, to reestablish the credibility of the clinic. 

The Government had already threatened to overturn the Self-Determination Act once, and the release of The List had prevented it for the time being, turning a situation of uncontrollable mayhem into a manageable disaster. But more unrest and the inevitable protests that would result from this latest move were bound to unsettle an already shaky legal foothold. A part of that was necessary – there was no way to get the laws changed unless they were able to prove that the current ones were inadequate. But at the same time, they had to be careful to steer public sentiment, and the resulting pressure on the government, in the right direction. Otherwise they could end up taking a huge step backwards, with new legislation stepping in to further control omegas and alphas, rather than liberate them to run their own lives. 

“Excellent,” Shepard agreed immediately with Jonn’s suggestion, activating his omni-tool. “I’ll send you her details. Tell her everything. No holds barred, no stone unturned. I want the truth out there in all its gory detail. We need to get to the court house,” he said, turning to the other two men. “I didn’t risk my life, and the lives of my crew for these bastards just so they can stab me in the back now.”

 

David stood before the judge in the court room, concluding his statement for the preliminary hearing. "Under section 32c of the Omega Service Contract, in reference to the requirement that omegas should be permanently on suppressants, it was never intended that an omega serving in the Alliance should ever go through a heat. As such, Commander Shepard was facing a situation well outside standard military protocol, and so he had to make a decision based on the best interests of his crew, and in the absence of all but the most basic medical resources. It is my submission that this situation warrants close scrutiny, taking into consideration the Commander's relationships with his crew members, both personal and professional, and also considering all that is currently known about omega physiology." He sat down, waiting for the judge's response.

There was a prolonged silence, as the judge gazed solemnly about the court room. "Commander Shepard," he said at length, "has a most colourful history within the Alliance. His military accomplishments have been remarkable, and I'm aware that public opinion has been, and likely will continue to be greatly influenced by his behaviour and values. So I'm very much inclined to examine this case from all angles and ensure that the most appropriate conclusion is reached. Your request for expert witnesses has been approved and to allow adequate time to prepare your defence, this case will reconvene in three days. However, the other not unrelated matter that we must attend to is Shepard's involvement in the so called 'mating clinic' that took place at the Alliance hospital." He gave Shepard a dark glare. "I consider this matter to be far more serious than the isolated case of one omega's heat. 

"The clinic involved numerous service men and women and coerced doctors, nurses and other personnel into participating in an exercise that appears to be devoid of any kind of moral decency, as well as being patently illegal. Omegas were expressly told to take leave in order to deal with their medical difficulties, and using Alliance resources in such a blatantly immoral manner is a shocking breach of protocol. And yet, in light of Shepard's history of disobeying orders and performing acts that were flagrantly outside his jurisdiction, I can't honestly say these actions were out of character. And regardless of his accomplishments to the benefit of the human race and our galactic neighbours, I must stress that the Alliance is based upon discipline and order, not on the whims of an elite few. Nine new charges have been added to Shepard's list of offences, and I would like to stress that, despite the recent tide of public opinion to the contrary, Alliance laws remain unchanged, and all responsible parties will be prosecuted according to the laws that were in effect at the time of these incidents occurring."

Watching from the gallery, it was impossible for Kaidan to tell what David thought of that statement, his expression remaining carefully neutral. If the rhetoric he had been spouting for the past few days was anything to go by, he was going to use the full weight of public opinion to their benefit, regardless of the judge's dismissal of it. And he suspected that the canny lawyer was going to enjoy this fight, pulling out every crafty move he could think of to tip the scales in their favour.

But even so, the judge's cold, calculating pre-empting of their strategy was enough to have him worried. 

Upon arriving at the court house, they'd met a wall of journalists, all begging for answers and information, and it had taken a great deal of self restraint to not simply blurt out what a load of bullshit the whole story so far had been. Another three channels had reported on the arrest of Chakwas and the other Alliance personnel, and with each telling, the story had gotten worse. 

Hopefully, Jon had contacted Allers by now, and was working on a more wholesome explanation of the clinic, both in its purpose, and its execution, so that they could begin to claw back some moral ground.

After they'd fought their way inside, it had taken half an hour of questioning and demanding to get any kind of answer about Chakwas and Steve and the rest of the personnel who had been arrested. They'd arrested the medical staff and the alphas involved, but had yet to make a decision about the omegas and the various other side-line staff - security guards, who had merely been keeping order, rather than coercing anyone into unlawful actions, cleaners, who were, after all, just doing their jobs. And no one was quite sure whether the omegas were hapless victims or devious rebels.

Of course, no one was willing to consider the idea that they were simply sane, rational human beings making the best choices possible under extremely difficult circumstances. No, if they'd gone into this deliberately, choosing to be mated by an alpha, then they must be deviants... regardless of the number of civilians who had made the exact same choice.

Kaidan ground his teeth as the court session wrapped up. At least they'd gotten to see Chakwas this morning. She'd been released on bail, but had been banned from the military hospital and forbidden from making contact with any of her patients. Thankfully, Kaidan wasn't currently on that list, so he'd hugged her and told her that they were going to rain hell down on the bureaucrats if they didn't start to see sense soon. And she'd laughed and said she'd bring an umbrella to watch the show.

Steve was another matter. He, along with every other alpha involved, had been deemed too dangerous to be released, and bail had been refused for all of them. Apparently, Shepard's only saving grace had been that he, personally, hadn't mated with anyone in the clinic.

Kaidan waited for Shepard and David in the court house foyer, and then they all headed outside, ready to get back to the apartment and start planning their next move. David was already making calls to get his lawyer buddies – both alphas and omegas – to come and start arguing for bail for the arrested alphas. David himself was going to be too busy to look after all of them.

But outside, the crowd had only gotten bigger. As they descended the steps towards a sky car waiting to pick them up, Kaidan overheard a journalist talking a mile a minute into a camera, and he paused to listen.

“…and it seems that early reports of the debauchery going on inside the clinic were inaccurate. A young man – a civilian – who took part in the clinic has come clean in an explicit interview. Diana Allers, formerly of the Battlespace, has given us permission to show you segments of this most remarkable and courageous interview.”

“Jonn’s been busy,” Kaidan murmured to Shepard as they climbed into the car. As soon as he was seated, he activated his omni-tool and started searching for the interview… and it didn’t take long to find it. It had been replicated – both with and without permission – on dozens of sites, and he quickly skipped over the preamble, explaining who Jonn was and how he’d come to be involved in the clinic, fast forwarding straight on to his actual comments and explanations.

“People keep saying that the omegas were forced into the mating,” Jonn was saying, looking earnestly at Allers. “But we were told every day that we didn’t have to do it. We had the choice of going through the heat alone, of taking the pain. But who the hell would want to do that? Ask any omega out there, and they’ll tell you it’s like having every bone in your body broken over and over again. So all the clinic was doing was letting us go through our heat somewhere safe, with alphas who had been taught how to be nice about it.”

For a boy barely past puberty, from the Terminus Systems, Jonn was surprisingly eloquent.

“Alphas?” Allers asked, playing the role of objective journalist well, despite her vested interest in doing Shepard a favour. No doubt this interview had been heavily edited, given Jonn’s lack of rambling and the absence of swearing. Or maybe they’d practiced his answers for a while. “Do you mean you were mated by more than one?”

“Hell, no. They’d never have let that happen. We got to choose one – someone we liked and respected – and then we got to know them a little, and then when it was time for the heat, we were taken to a secure room so no one else could get in. The whole thing was set up to stop anyone hurting the omegas.”

“And what about these alphas? Tell me more about them.”

“I’m not sure how they were picked in the first place, but every one of them was really nice. They were all worried about accidentally hurting someone, which is why we all had to do lots of training first…”

“He’s doing remarkably well,” David said from the front seat, peering back to look at them. “I had doubts about him, but he’s turning out to be rather an asset.”

“And one the Alliance can’t muzzle,” Shepard said dryly. Kaidan took his hand, squeezing it gently. As stressful as the day had been for him, it must have been twice as bad for Shepard. “We’ll need to make sure Jonn’s okay. See that he’s got enough food. Cash. Company.”

“Some of the other omegas from the clinic might be able to spend some time with him,” Kaidan suggested. “They’re all pissed off with the arrests, and a little camaraderie might make Jonn feel better.”

“Good idea. I’ll give him a call, see where he’s at.”


	9. Looking For Answers

In the end, they hadn’t had to look far for Jonn. He was sitting on the steps to their apartment when they got home, eager to see them, but upset at the news that Steve was still behind bars. They’d invited him in for dinner, then Shepard had discretely transferred a few hundred credits onto Jonn’s credit chit, telling him that Steve could pay him back when the case was sorted. In reality, he would never expect Steve to repay the money, but he had a strong suspicion that Jonn would object to a free handout.

David excused himself at eight o’clock, claiming he’d done all he could usefully do for the day, and offered to drive Jonn home – more to get him out of Shepard’s hair, he suspected, that due to any desire to be helpful. For all his keen advocacy for omegas’ rights, it had been obvious that the young man’s boundless energy had been draining, and then downright irritating to an omega who was more aristocrat than social worker.

The door had barely closed behind the pair when Kaidan was on him, pressing him up against the door, kissing him frantically and working Shepard’s pants open. He’d been expecting it – this had become something of a routine over the past week, and as enjoyable as the frantic bouts of sex were, Shepard was starting to get worried. They’d been back together for a full week now, and during the day, they were both calm and controlled, no hint of run away desires, no stray pheromones interrupting more important business.

But at night… the instant they were alone and safe in their apartment, Kaidan’s pheromones went wild, driving them both into a frenzy of lust. At first, Shepard had thought that maybe the ongoing drive was because they hadn’t actually been able to mate the first few days – maybe Kaidan’s body needed his essence inside it, a strong chemical signal that his mate was really back and here to stay.

But even after their first full round of sex there had been no change. And it had gone on long enough now that Shepard was ready to call time, to declare that whatever the cause and no matter how enjoyable, this just couldn't be healthy.

Part of what was bothering him was that Kaidan seemed to feel no real mental connection to his body’s uncontrolled arousal. At times he’d seemed almost fed up with his need for sex… but the hormones would not be denied, and trying to resist had driven them both half mad before they’d finally given in and gone at it like bunnies.

Tomorrow, he promised himself, as Kaidan dragged him into the bedroom, stripping off shirts and shoes as they went, he would insist that he saw a doctor, and that they tried to get to the bottom of this.

And part of what he missed, he realised, as Kaidan knelt on the bed, ass in the air, was the slow intimacy of their love-making. They hadn't mated face to face in a long while, not since Kaidan's heat, nor had they taken the time for much foreplay. Kissing had been more like a battle zone than an expression of affection, removing clothing had been simply the removal of an obstacle, rather that the arousing strip-tease it often had been in the past, and as he got up behind Kaidan and mounted him without preamble, Shepard longed for the patience to take things slow, to enjoy this, rather than just rushing towards a climax.

But for tonight, at least, his body was having none of it. His cock was throbbing, aching, his balls tight and his knot tender as he thrust in and out of his partner's body. Kaidan was moaning, stroking himself, begging Shepard to go harder and deeper, and almost before he knew it, he was coming, harsh pulses of pleasure that left him breathless and trembling.

He stayed where he was for a moment, trying to pull himself together, then leaned forward, tucked an arm around Kaidan's waist and tipped them both over onto their sides, his knot lodged tightly inside Kaidan's body. 

Knowing that his lover wanted to come again - at least three times tonight - he pressed his knot deeper and sighed in satisfaction as he heard and felt Kaidan climax. 

"Love you," he murmured into Kaidan's neck, then, on impulse, bit him gently. 

Kaidan cried out and arched back into him. "More... please..."

Shepard did, but not a hard, commanding bite. Just a series of gentle nibbles, with the occasional stronger nip. He wanted to calm his lover down a bit without resorting to the total kill-switch effect that a hard bite had... and it seemed to be working. Over the next few minutes, Kaidan relaxed, tense muscles softening, moans becoming whimpers, and when Shepard gave him his next climax, he settled into the bed afterwards in a boneless heap.

Much better.

With a few gentle strokes along his shoulder, Shepard finally withdrew and tugged Kaidan around to face him. "Hey." He stroked his face. "How you doing?"

"Mmm... better. Thank you."

Shepard leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. "We need to talk about this," he hedged, not sure how Kaidan was going to react to what he had to say. Where hormones and pheromones were concerned, both alphas and omegas had a tendency to be quite irrational at times.

Kaidan went still, then sighed. "Yeah. This is nuts." He opened his eyes and peered up at Shepard. "Do you still think it's connected to us being apart? Or is this something else now?"

"I don't know. But I do think it's time we got some outside help with it."

Kaidan stiffened. "In terms of what?"

"Maybe you should go see a doctor tomorrow? At the very least I want to know what's causing it, even if it turns out to be normal."

Kaidan winced. "Chakwas is suspended at the moment. And given our situation, I'd be wary of talking to any other doctor about this."

"What about a doctor at a breeding center? They know far more about omega physiology than anyone else. And at this stage, I'm working on the assumption that your body is the one causing this. I don't think I've been producing any unusual pheromones. Unless you've noticed something?"

Kaidan shook his head. "No. Okay. I'll make a few calls tomorrow, see if I can get in to see someone."

"If you want me to be there-"

"No. You need to be working on the case with David." They lay in silence for a long moment. And then Kaidan shifted. Reached up. Pressed a chaste kiss to Shepard's lips. He smiled, and kissed him back. Kaidan's lips parted and a gentle, probing tongue was added to the mix. A hand on his abs... then lower...

"Kaidan..." Shepard pulled away, caught that wandering hand and held it firmly. "I really don't think that's a good idea-"

Kaidan whined, pressed himself closer and reached up to kiss him again-

"No! Shit... If I keep knotting you I'm going to end up hurting you."

"Want you," Kaidan said huskily... but an edge of frustration in his voice made Shepard wonder...

"Do you? Really?"

Kaidan huffed out a breath. "I want this fucking throbbing in my cock to go away..."

"I don't think more sex is going to do that."

"I know, but... what the hell else am I supposed to do?"

Shepard hesitated... then got out of bed. "I'm going to sleep in the other bedroom tonight," he said, his voice rough. Turning down his omega was all but impossible... but concerns for his health outweighed the runaway lust. For this five minutes, at least... "We need to figure out what the hell is going on here. And I'm not going to risk hurting you while we do that."

Forcing himself not to look back, he grabbed a pair of pyjama pants and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

 

 

Kaidan sat in the waiting room at the breeding center, feeling self conscious and out of place. Most of the omegas in the room were pregnant, a mix of males and females, and while they didn't usually see non-contracted patients, they'd agreed to make an exception... though a part of Kaidan was worried that it was only because they thought they could 'study' his case like he was a lab rat. He hadn't mentioned to the receptionist that he was bonded, and there were enough rumours about these centers to give him good reason for his caution. Some were genuinely trying to do the right thing, concerned about the welfare of both alpha and omega, while others were just out to make money. He'd heard of omegas being given hormonal supplements to induce a heat - naturally, there should be 12 months between giving birth and the next heat starting, but of course, if they could induce a heat sooner, that meant more pregnancies, and more revenue for the center.

And the way some centers treated alphas was atrocious, drugging them until they were all but unconscious and completely at the mercy of the omega during the heat... and he knew enough of human nature to know that not all omegas were going to behave with respect. Even those who volunteered for breeding sometimes held deep grudges against alphas, and the system seemed fraught with difficulties for both sides...

Trying to avoid drawing attention to himself, Kaidan pulled up the next entry in the journal David had given him on his omni-tool. The omega who had written it sounded like a remarkable man, given the time he was living in. After his bonded alpha had died, his natural born alpha son had taken over the estate, and it was clear through his writing how much the omega cared for him, and how proud he was of the way he ran things. It was a very different life from the one Kaidan knew, agriculture providing the majority of the estate's income, and a bad season or sudden storm could send them from comfortable luxury to dire straits.

The omega seemed content with his lot in life, despite living as a slave, but his accounts of what other omegas endured was horrifying - rapes, beatings, starvation, with no legal rights and no avenue for justice... It made him admire the omegas who had fought for freedom all the more. They had bled and died to prise control of their lives back from their alpha masters, not because they, themselves would ever enjoy it, but so that their children and grandchildren might.

The first riots had started during this omega's lifetime - Kaidan was shocked to realise how far back the rebellions went, and how long it had taken for any progress to be made - and his descriptions of the violence were tinged with both pride and sadness - pride for those who refused to endure the abuse any more, and he made reference to an omega named Jack more than once, one who had apparently been killed many years earlier - but sadness because he'd had a warm and loving relationship with his own alpha, and philosophized that if more alphas would bother to pursue a bonded relationship with their omegas, then half the world's ills would be solved overnight without the need for the bloodshed.

His reading was interrupted suddenly by a news report, breaking into the dull drone of sports commentary... and Kaidan looked up to see Jonn on the screen, along with two other omega civilians that he recognised as having attended the clinic. Due to the need for tight security and the utmost respect for privacy, they hadn't contacted any of the other civilians who had taken part, but Jonn must have tracked them down... and convinced them to tell their stories. And one of them was proudly announcing that 'The List' had indeed come about as a result of the clinic. She was a middle aged woman, with the self-confidence to stand her ground, but not be arrogant about it. 

"People are saying the clinic treated us like lab-rats. Well, let me first of all say that we volunteered for it, knowing full well what we were up against, and secondly, if those so called experiments meant that even one omega got through their heat without pain and without the fear of being raped by strangers, then I say it was worth every minute of it."

"Kaidan Alenko?" 

Kaidan jumped as his name was called, dragging him back to the present, and stood up, feeling suddenly nervous. What if there was something wrong with him? Or what if there wasn't and he simply had to learn to live with these bizarre cravings? For all the physical pleasure of it, he'd felt like someone else had been taking over his body, leaving his mind to look on from a distance and wonder what the hell was happening. He wanted answers... but dreaded what they might be.

He followed the nurse through to a consulting room... and nearly fell over in relief when he saw who his doctor was going to be.

"Doctor Michel! What are you doing here?"

She gave him a droll look. "Ensuring the continuity of the human species," she said, knowing it wasn't what he meant, and he rolled his eyes at her. "After the war, there was just so much trauma," she said, her face falling slightly, her tone turning somber. "I treated so many people for so many terrible wounds... In the end I just needed to do something else. And here, I get to help create life, rather than see people die on the table in front of me. It's been a good change of pace."

Something about her had always put him at ease, and Kaidan sat down in the chair she indicated, feeling a hell of a lot better about this. "So what can I do for you today?"

Kaidan immediately blushed. Okay, so she was a doctor, but he still had to admit that for the past week, he'd basically become a sex maniac... 

But, he consoled himself, he'd rather be having that painfully awkward conversation with a doctor he trusted, rather than one who would treat him as his own personal guinea pig. And so he went through the problem in detail, explaining the circumstances of his heat, the termination, when the lustful cravings had started and how they'd progressed, and made sure to point out that he and Shepard were bonded. They'd both undergone some serious changes to their biochemistry as a result. And Chloe listened throughout it all patiently, without the slightest hint of judgment. Asked a few questions. Clarified a few details. And when he finally fell silent, she pursed her lips in thought. 

"The first thing I want to do is check your hormone levels. If certainly sounds like they're elevated, but the question would still be why that's occurring." She fetched a needle and syringe and Kaidan rolled up his sleeve, sat still while she swabbed his arm and he felt the prick of the needle, and then she was dropping a sample of his blood into a high-tech machine that Kaidan couldn't begin to figure out. 

"The ANIDEX will give us a result in about five minutes." She sat down, avoiding his gaze awkwardly, and Kaidan felt his earlier worry begin to creep back in. "Look, Kaidan... I'm going to be honest with you. I've never treated a bonded omega before. There are some places that do - a specialist clinic in New York, for example - but bonding is a rare thing. And a breeding center is hardly the place to find a bonded omega. Most of the omegas here only mate during their heat, and Centre guidelines firmly discourage any social contact between the omega and the alpha that mated them. Not to mention the privacy laws. It just doesn't happen here." She thought for a few minutes, as the machine beeped in the background. "What I can tell you," she went on finally, "is that I've never seen anything like this as a result of a pregnancy termination. We treat a lot of termination cases and the rest of your symptoms are very common - cramps, nausea, extended bleeding if the omega is stressed. But if anything, your hormones should be lower than normal right at the moment, not higher."

The machine beeped loudly, then flashed the result on a bright screen... and Chloe checked the readings, then nodded. "Definitely elevated. If normal is ten and heat is one hundred, you're sitting at about thirty five right now."

"So what do we do about it?" The news was not encouraging. It confirmed that there was definitely something going on with him, but they were no closer to finding a cause.

"I'm going to run a few more tests on your blood, make a few phone calls, check a few medical resources and see if I can find anything helpful. I'll call you in a few days, but in the meantime... I think the most prudent thing to do would be to put you back on suppressants. They might only mask the symptoms at this stage, but it should at least make you and Shepard more comfortable."

Kaidan's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You have a supply of suppressants? I thought the manufacturer was still out of action."

"The first batches have just started coming out. They're not making a big thing out of it because most omegas don't need them at the moment, and there are plenty of clinics and hospitals that need them for omegas who never went through a heat in the first place. No sense placing more demand on supplies when it's not really needed. But there are plenty here, in the Center."

Ten minutes later, Kaidan was letting himself out the door, feeling relieved and confused and concerned all at the same time. Even if suppressants were a temporary solution, it felt better to have something to control the hormonal surges. But a long term answer was needed, and he'd never felt so frustrated at knowing so little about how his own body worked.


	10. Denial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks. I'm currently in the process of changing jobs at the same time as moving house, so chapters might be a bit slow in coming for the next week or two. Rest assured I haven't forgotten you, and as always, I greatly appreciate any comments and feedback. It's just that... sometimes reality gets in the way of playing with the plot bunnies in my head. *sigh*

Kaidan sat curled up on the sofa, totally absorbed in the journal of the omega from the 1800s. He really should have been reading the scientific papers about omega physiology… but something about this omega’s life was just too compelling. He was no push over, referring to several fights he had had during his lifetime, more than one of them involving an alpha… but at the same time, he offered unquestioning obedience to his master, and said nothing about any desire to be other than a slave. His double standards were difficult to stomach, and it was a constant battle between admiring him for his refusal to back down, and pitying him for his acceptance of such a restricted life. 

In this particular entry, he was detailing a series of riots that had taken place in Paris. They’d begun when an omega owned by a Duke had been hung for mating with another alpha. But according to the journal, the omega had been raped, and yet he had still been blamed for it. 

_'Last week the King declared that any alpha whose omega is shot during the riots will not be paid compensation, as they are to be held responsible for not controlling their property - no more than an alpha would be paid compensation for a horse that stampedes or a bull that destroys a fence. This news caused a new riot. The alphas went out en masse to collect their wayward omegas. The omegas fought back, and twenty three alphas in Paris were killed. The rest of the omegas have been shot, and the rebellion has gone quiet in the last few days. News from Paris comes almost daily, each new story a shock. I am grateful that my omega son is living far to the south of here, and is not caught up in this violence. But none the less, it is difficult to sleep at night with images of the beatings and rapes that these sorry creatures must endure. God knows I have endured enough of them myself, before I came to this estate-‘_

A knock at the door interrupted Kaidan's reading, and he got up to answer it. He'd left David and Shepard chewing over a paper on omega psychology this morning, and they'd been out when he got home from the breeding centre. He'd hoped they would be home by now, but neither of them would bother knocking... 

He opened the door, finding a distraught Jonn on the doorstep. He looked like he'd been crying, but was trying to hide it, so Kaidan politely ignored his reddened eyes and the way he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Hey, Jonn. Come in. You want something to eat?"

Jonn shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself in a miserable posture. "They won't let Steve out of jail. That lawyer of yours got some fancy guy to come and represent the alphas, but the judge isn't budging."

"Shit, I'm sorry." Kaidan pulled him into a hug. "Shepard and David will be back soon. Hopefully they'll have some ideas on how to get somewhere with all this."

"Do you think Steve would ever bond with me?" Jonn asked, suddenly switching topics, and then he went to the cupboard and took out a packet of potato chips. So much for not being hungry. But the question caught Kaidan off-guard. Jonn was thinking about bonding??

"Um... I don't know," he answered, both his honest opinion, and a good way to avoid digging a hole for himself. Saying no would upset the boy, but saying yes would likely drag Steve into a promise he might not be prepared - or able - to keep. "No one really knows much about the bonding process or how it happens. Shepard and I kind of stumbled into it."

"Hmm. But David said he'd studied it. So I thought maybe he'd have told you how it happens." 

Kaidan glanced at the pile of data pads on the table. "David gave us a lot of different studies on the effects of the bonding. I've started reading it all, but there's a lot there." He took a second look at Jonn. "Have you talked to Steve about this?"

"No," he said, and from the tone of his voice, that was the end of the conversation. And then he remained uncharacteristically silent as he munched on the chips. 

Kaidan thought back to Steve's comments about Jonn's behaviour, that he didn't seem to be taking the relationship as seriously as Steve was... but suddenly it seemed that there had been a serious miscommunication here. 

He opened his mouth to say something about it, but suddenly the front door burst open, so suddenly that Kaidan fell into a defensive crouch and reached for a gun that was no longer habitually at his hip. David burst into the room, and Kaidan had the fleeting thought that he would like to shoot him, after all, so it was just as well he didn't have his gun...

But the look on David's face chased both the irritation and the dry humour from Kaidan's mind.

"Shepard's been arrested," he blurted out. "For inciting public disorder. He's being held and they won't release him on bail this time."

Kaidan felt the blood drain from his face, and he actually swayed on his feet. "They can't do that..."

"I'm afraid they can, old chum," David said softly, sounding more British than ever. "The media pounced on the idea that The List came out as a result of the clinic at the hospital, and then every omega in the city went nuts. There have been protests all day at the court house, demanding the release of all the alphas involved and the cancellation of all charges against them. Shepard's somehow been deemed the cause of it all, and since he was the one who told Jonn to talk to Allers, I guess he is. The Courts don't know that, of course, but they don't need facts at this stage, they just need a scapegoat-"

"I got Shepard arrested?" Jonn yelped in horror.

"No!" Kaidan blurted out, at the same time as David said 'Yes, probably," and he shot the lawyer a filthy look. 

"A bunch of bigoted betas in suits and expensive offices got him arrested," Kaidan snapped, sending David a look that said 'Stop it!' The man must have never spent any time with teenagers before. Or remembered what it was like to be one. Naïve and inexperienced about the world, Jonn would take his words to heart, blaming himself for Shepard, and then probably Steve's current situation, and that just wasn't fair on the poor boy. 

"The point here, Johnny boy,” David said, “is that regardless of whether Shepard was arrested or not, we needed the public to get wind of this and start voicing their opinions. And yes, it may get worse before it gets better, but this is all part of the battle plan. So stiff upper lip and all that. We're rewriting history here. And in twenty years, you'll be able to look back and tell your children that you were a part of the biggest revolution in values since the Self-Determination Act itself."

Okay, scratch that, Kaidan mentally amended his previous thoughts. The man was a genius. The fire was instantly back in Jonn's eyes, his whole demeanor changing.

"Awesome," he said simply. "So what do we do now?"

"We have a lot of planning to do. The next session of Shepard's rape case is tomorrow, so I need to do some work on that. For now, I've got a lawyer friend of mine talking to a bunch of journalists about the Self-Determination Act. Thought it would help if a few more people knew what that pile of toilet paper actually says. And for tomorrow in court, I've called in an expert witness to discuss the exact sequence of events that an omega goes through during their heat, both physically and psychologically."

"Who?" Kaidan asked. If David knew a doctor who was an expert on omegas, it might be worth trying to talk to them-

"A beta called Chloe Michel. Old friend of mine. Owes me a favour, and she's on board with the cause, so she's agreed to do it for free.

Poker face, Kaidan told himself sharply. Fuck... awkward didn't even begin to describe this. The doctor he had spent the afternoon spilling his guts to was friends with the obnoxious omega he wanted to suffocate to death. Terrific... but, on the up side, if she was the 'expert' on omega physiology, then she was likely to be able to find a solution to his current problem...

Though if he was separated from Shepard... fuck... did that mean the hormones were going to settle down and give him a break... or act up more? His uncontrollable desires hadn't started until he and Shepard got back together, so maybe this meant that he'd be okay without his alpha for a day or two... and to be honest, the only reason he wasn't freaking out more at the news of Shepard's arrest was that he believed that he'd be out on bail again in a few days. 

He couldn't afford to believe anything else, at this stage.

And for all his dislike of David, the man had so far delivered everything he had promised - the chance to argue Shepard's innocence in a trial, the waves of public support, the political upheaval... the man was a political genius and he had a vast array of contacts who were able to lend support and advice.

Stay calm, he coached himself, suddenly wanting a stiff drink. Shepard was okay. He was in jail, but he was safe. Unharmed. And this was a battle that needed to be fought. 

Everything was going according to plan...

 

 

"And so the conclusion from these tests, conducted over a period of four years, is that an omega's hormones are not at a sufficient level to induce an uncontrollable mating urge until, on average, three hours into the heat." Dr Michel stood before the judge in the court room, concluding her detailed discussion of omega physiology. On the screen beside her there were half a dozen charts and tables indicating the collective data, hormone levels in no less than two hundred omegas over a 24 hour period covering before, during and after the heat. 

“That’s all well and good, but we lack any clear data on exactly when Major Alenko’s heat started. And in the absence of that information, I think it’s prudent to take a more cautious path, and assume that he was not capable of consenting at the time that-“

“Your Honour, if I may?” David interrupted, standing up suddenly. The judge hesitated, then nodded. “Lieutenant James Vega was present on Mavigon with Major Alenko and Commander Shepard. He would be able to confirm or deny the progression of Major Alenko’s heat.”

The judge looked peeved, as if the chance to examine further evidence was a tiresome inconvenience. “Very well. Summon Lieutenant Vega for questioning.”

Five minutes later, the Lieutenant was sworn in, and looking entirely uncomfortable in the stand in his dress uniform. 

“Lieutenant Vega,” the judge began. “It is my understanding that you accompanied Commander Shepard and Major Alenko to Mavigon during the time in which Major Alenko went through his heat.”

“That’s correct, Your Honour.”

“And what was the first point at which you realised that something was amiss?”

“The Commander told us. About the Major. He asked me to restrain him on the upper level of the base, while another member of the crew did the same to Alenko on the lower level. It was designed to keep them apart for the duration of the heat.”

“And yet they still mated. Why? Did they escape their bonds?”

“No, Your Honour. Major Alenko came upstairs a short time later to talk to Shepard. Sorry, to talk to the Commander.”

“And what did they discuss?”

“I don’t know. I was asked to leave the room.”

“You allowed them to talk privately, and then simply concluded that they must be capable of making such an important decision by themselves?”

“No, Your Honour. I came back and told Major Alenko to leave. He did.”

“And so how did this mating end up taking place, if he had left the room?”

“Five minutes later, Garrus Vakarian – a turian serving on the Normandy – came upstairs and informed me that Major Alenko had requested to mate with the Commander. I advised him against it.”

“And he didn’t listen to you?”

“He was willing to discuss it with the Major. And, given that they’d already talked it over and the Major had voluntarily left the room, I figured they weren’t all crazy hormonal yet. And then, after they’d talked it over again, the Commander left the Major’s side to see to the rest of the crew. So by my observations, they were both capable of leaving the other at the time the decision was made. Which is why I didn’t object to it.”

The judge looked put out by Vega’s conclusions… but, given the evidence Dr. Michel had already presented, the prosecution’s case was starting to look more than a little shaky. 

“Thank you, Lieutenant. That will be all.”

James nodded, then quietly exited the court room.

“I think we’ve covered quite enough ground for today,” the judge said, after a pause. “In tomorrow’s session, I would like a further examination of Major Alenko’s medical records, including any injuries he sustained during the heat.”

David was on his feet again, respectfully indicating his desire to speak. The Judge all but rolled his eyes, but nodded to him.

“Before we finish proceedings today, Your Honour, I would also like to renew my request for bail for Commander Shepard on compassionate grounds. The medical discussions on the bonding process-“

“Denied!” the judge snapped. “You have failed to produce any reliable evidence that this so called 'bonding' occurs at all, never mind that interfering with it can have a detrimental effect on those involved, and until or unless you do, there will be no further discussion of this supposed psychological trauma that you claim your client is suffering. The only papers you can produce on the subject were those you wrote yourself, and besides which, Shepard has caused far more danger to the whole of society with his thoughtless actions and rhetoric than could possibly be caused by denying one omega the right to continue a relationship that is immoral at best, and shamefully degrading at worst. Bail is denied.”

The banging of the gavel was loud in the stunned silence of the court room.


	11. The Battle vs The War

“And in politics today, the parliament has fast-tracked legislation making it illegal for any omega to give birth without being contracted to a breeding center. The new laws are a response to the serious health concerns doctors have expressed for omegas who may not understand how physically demanding the birthing process is, and are likely to suffer serious injuries as a result of attempting birth without proper medical supervision. Pregnant omegas who have a due date more than four weeks away must register within the next 20 days, or face fines of up to 10 000 credits-“

Kaidan switched the news off.

“Leave that!” David protested, but Kaidan just shot him a filthy look. 

“I’ve heard enough about omegas being trodden into the carpet lately-“

David switched the report back on, ignoring him.

“…response to the announcement, a crowd of protestors have gathered at the court house. And it’s not just omegas who are protesting. Estimates say that at least a quarter of the crowd consists of alphas and betas. Numbers continue to grow with each hour, but the latest figures indicate a crowd of at least 20 000 people.”

“See?” David said triumphantly. “Push hard enough, and people start to push back.”

“Hip hip hurray,” Kaidan said dryly. “They’re protesting a piece of legislation that has nothing to do with either the clinic or Shepard supposedly raping me. I’m thrilled.”

“Ah, but it’s all related. And it all comes back to the Self-Determination Act. There’s nothing in there that gives omegas the right to reproduce at will. So people are beginning to realise that there are flaws in it.”

“So when do we get to the bit where Shepard _gets out of jail_?” It was a week since he’d been arrested the second time, and far from settling the protests down, it had only increased them. A bit of a no-brainer, as far as Kaidan was concerned, but the Alliance managed to be surprised by it.

David sighed. “I know this is frightfully hard for you, but even my talents at producing miracles do take time. But,” he went on, as Kaidan glared at him, “I have arranged the next best thing.”

“The suspense is killing me,” Kaidan said flatly, when he didn’t continue.

“You have visitation rights,” David said, as if he were discussing the weather, and his indifferent tone meant it took Kaidan a moment or two to catch on.

“I… I can see him?”

“Today. At 3 pm.”

“Thank you. I hate you. But thank you.”

David sipped his tea, regarding Kaidan peevishly over the rim of the cup. “And thank god that I don’t give a horse’s rear end what you think of me. I’m not doing this for you. I’m not even doing it for Shepard. This is for every omega who ever got passed over for promotion, or held back in school, or turned down for a scholarship for no better reason than that he or she is an omega. So put your ego away, and go see your boytoy. God knows it might improve your mood.”

He had been grumpy lately, Kaidan admitted, as he cleared away his lunch things and cleaned up the kitchen. The court case had been slow and draining, as if the judge was _trying_ to drag things out. 

The alphas from the clinic were still not out on bail, and Jonn had become fast friends with Samantha Traynor and Kenneth Donnelly as they all joined the protests at the court house. Jonn had admitted that he wasn’t sleeping well, and Kaidan had started to wonder about the bonding. It was a slow, gradual thing, but no one really knew when it reached a point of no return, and though Jonn had shown no signs of being fully bonded, no flaring, no unexplained scents, it was entirely possible that he and Steve were in the early stages. And being separated as they were was clearly taking its toll on the young man.

Kaidan was doing little better, forcing himself to eat despite the lack of appetite, throwing himself into working on the case to avoid the anxiety that came on when he had too much time on his hands. He’d learned a huge amount about alpha and omega physiology, had learned that if one of the pair died, the other would never bond with another partner; that bonded omegas in heat actually repelled other alphas with their scent; that if a bonded omega lost their partner, they would cease having heats at all; that pregnant omegas could experience a heat-like state for months throughout the pregnancy, craving sex all the time. That one had rung some alarm bells, and he’d immediately contacted Dr. Michel to check whether he could be pregnant, given his previous cravings for sex… but she’d killed that idea quite quickly. One of the first things she’d checked his blood for was a pregnancy, and the results had been a firm no.

Thankfully, the cravings had disappeared after Shepard had been sent to jail, and while Kaidan still wanted an answer to the strange desires, he was relieved that for the time being they were gone.

Jonn had also become something of a poster child for the clinic, and Allers had received a flood of messages openly supporting his decisions to be mated and praising him for having the courage to stand up and say what a thousand omegas had been thinking – namely, that mating was not only vastly preferable to going through the heat-pain, but also immensely enjoyable in its own right.

The afternoon wore on slowly, with Kaidan checking the time every five minutes until 1430 hours finally rolled around. And then he grabbed his shoes and jacket, tossed a parting insult to David as he sat working at the kitchen table, and ran for the sky-car like his life depended on it.

 

 

“Kaidan! God, I’ve missed you…” 

Kaidan all but ran the last of the distance to Shepard’s cell and hugged him as well as could be managed with thick iron bars between them. 

“Are you okay?”

“Are you eating?”

“How are they treating you?”

“Are the protests making any headway?”

Shepard reached forward as they spoke over the top of each other and massaged Kaidan’s neck with a firm hand, not liking the lines of worry creasing his lover’s face, and was pleased to see the tension ease off a little. 

“Is David getting anywhere with the clinic case?” he asked next, having had no time to ask his lawyer that himself, spending all their time together trying to work out which line of argument was most likely to get Shepard off his current round of charges.

“The case hasn’t even started yet,” Kaidan told him, head drooping forward as Shepard rubbed his neck. “David’s lawyer friends are putting together a defence for the alphas and he’s called in a beta from New York to represent Chakwas. It’s full steam ahead, but the preliminary hearing won’t be for another week, so there’s not a whole lot of progress to be had at this stage.”

“And how are you getting along with David?”

Kaidan rolled his eyes. “I haven’t killed him yet. Tempting, but sadly he’s still the best shot we’ve got at getting you out of here, so I manage to tolerate him most of the time.”

Shepard grinned at that. From what David had told him, the pair of them had taken to trading insults and threatening each other with increasingly violent forms of torture. And if the banter helped them break the tension and focus on their work, then heck, why not let them go at it verbally, if it meant they didn’t have to resort to physical violence. 

“It still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me why you get so upset about David, when I can hug Jonn, or Samantha, and you don’t bat an eyelid.”

Kaidan scowled. “You’ve never had sex with either of them,” he pointed out, but Shepard wasn’t buying the excuse. 

“But when Jonn first came to the clinic, he was convinced he wanted to mate with me. And if you recall, I did actually consider it for a little while.”

Kaidan thought about that… then shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. There’s just something about David that… just makes me not able to think straight. I don’t know what it is.”

Shepard hummed dismissively. “Not to worry. I’d rather spend this time talking about something else, anyway.” He pulled his omega close, and buried his face in his neck, inhaling deeply-

And then pulled back sharply. “You don’t smell of anything.” 

Kaidan stared at him like he’d just spoken in Hungarian. “What?”

Shepard lifted Kaidan’s arm and deliberately sniffed his skin. “You don’t have any scent.”

“That’s nuts,” came the instant reply. “You smell like you’ve taken a bath in Old Spice. My hormones have got to be going as nuts as yours are. How can I not smell of anything?”

Shepard searched Kaidan’s face. “I don’t know. Have I… Have I done something wrong?”

“No! Fuck, Shepard…” Kaidan stepped as close to the bars as he could get, pulled Shepard in close. “I love you. I miss you like crazy. Don’t ever doubt that.” He tugged him forward to kiss him through the bars, and Shepard moaned at the taste of him. That, at least, hadn’t changed. And a sudden throbbing in his cock told him that his body was responding to his omega’s presence just as strongly as it ever had.

But maybe his omega wasn’t responding to him…

He reached down, slid his hand over Kaidan’s hip to his groin…

“Hey, I know you’ve missed me and all,” Kaidan laughed, grabbing his hand before it could reach its destination, “but this isn’t exactly a private suite.”

Right. Security cameras. Guards. Another prisoner in the next cell. “Sorry. I just…”

“I know,” Kaidan said, forgiving the indiscretion immediately. “This is driving me nuts too. And I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his voice. “I never meant for it to end up anything like this when I asked you to mate with me back on Mavigon.”

Shepard smiled at that. “If you hadn’t, then we’d never have gotten together. And we wouldn’t have been able to help the omegas in the clinic. I don’t regret any of this, Kaidan. And if spending time in jail is the price to be paid for the chance to bond with you, then it was totally worth it.”

Kaidan smiled, fighting back a sudden urge to cry. “Smooth talker.”

“I hope so,” Shepard said with a sudden glint in his eye. “As soon as I get out of here, I’m counting on getting laid.”

 

On the day that the Clinic case started, the outside of the courthouse was crowded with tens of thousands of protestors. The media reports had been split, some of them siding with the omegas and emphasising the pain caused by a heat and the very valid reasons to avoid it, and the rest siding with the bureaucracy, highlighting the very illegal and indecent aspects to getting a bunch of soldiers together so they could have sex with each other.

The protestors were also a mixed crowd, some chanting about an omega’s right to control their own body, in response to the new breeding laws, some demanding Shepard be released and stating that the charges against him had been fabricated, while still others were hailing the participants in the Clinic as heroes, having paved the way for a relatively safe mating protocol for omegas the world over.

But what none of the media had picked up on – largely due to most of the relevant participants being banned from speaking to the media – was that this morning, the judge was due to reach a verdict on Shepard’s rape charges.

Kaidan sat in the gallery, hands clenched into fists and stuffed inside his jacket pockets, just to keep them still. If Shepard was found not guilty, then they were by no means home free, with the second trial just about to start, but they were a damn sight better off than if he was convicted and sentenced to jail. 

Kaidan had been reading through David’s notes on the effects of long term separation for a bonded couple, and none of it was pretty. Headaches, lowered immune system, muscle aches, skin rashes… all manner of physical ailments, and then a barrage of psychological ones as well. Insomnia, nightmares, paranoia in the more extreme cases, sensitivity to sound… the list went on. Not something either of them was looking forward to, not to mention the effects this would have on the political freedoms of omegas and alphas for years to come. Being an Alliance case, there would be no legal precedents set for civilian cases, but it would greatly influence the way the genders were treated within the Alliance. And both genders had already been screwed over enough to last a few lifetimes.

“Given the tense political environment surrounding the treatment of omegas in recent months,” the judge was saying, and Kaidan fought to listen, to keep breathing, in, out, to sit respectfully still, “which were largely brought on by circumstances beyond any of our control, it is difficult to reach an unbiased conclusion to this case. However, it is my duty to keep an open mind and an objective view point, taking into consideration the unplanned circumstances surrounding the mating which took place, the lack of alternatives and the need to act outside of standard operating procedures. While I am not convinced that Major Alenko was, in fact, capable of consenting to the mating, and while Commander Shepard’s actions would have been a gross breach of regulations under normal circumstances, I have seen enough evidence to convince me that Shepard, at least, believed consent was given, and that he was acting with the best interests of his crew in mind, regardless of whether or not I agree with his conclusions. I therefore find Commander John Shepard not guilty on all charges.”

There was a pause as the entire room held its collective breath… and then a rustle of sighs and fidgeting which were just as good as a chorus of cheers, given the absolute silence which had come before. Everyone had been warned that any kind of disturbance was grounds to be evicted from the court room, and no one present was at all inclined to leave.

Kaidan saw both Shepard and David sag with relief, and he met his lover’s eyes from across the room, giving him a smile and a nod, which were met with a look of longing so stark it made his heart skip a beat.

“However, this is only part of the total number of charges which have been laid against Commander Shepard, and in light of the ongoing protests and public disobedience, he will be remanded in custody for the duration of the Clinic trial.”

The gavel came down with a dull thud, and Kaidan braced himself for the next phase of the fight for freedom for all genders.

The battle had been won… but the war was far from over.

 

 

“How are you holding up?” Kaidan had been given a few minutes to talk to Shepard while the court room emptied and preparations were made for the next case, and predictably, his alpha’s first question was about Kaidan’s health and safety, rather than his own. 

Kaidan wrapped his arms around him and held him tight, not caring how many people were watching. “Doing well. One step at a time, right?”

“Right.”

He leaned in and took a lungful of his alpha’s scent. The apartment was starting to lose even the faintest traces of Shepard’s pheromones, and it felt at times like he had died. Kaidan slept alone, woke up to cold sheets on the other side of the bed, ate in an empty kitchen, and now that his scent was fading, it would soon be like he’d never even lived there, the clothes in his closet a reminder of days long past when the other half of his soul had still lived with him…

And then a thought occurred to him… “Do I smell of anything?”

The answer was written all over Shepard’s face before he said a word. “No.” It was softly spoken, tinged with disappointment.

“What the hell is going on with that?” He seemed to be swinging back and forth from one extreme to another, frantic sex while Shepard was around, and complete shut down when he wasn’t. He’d found nothing documenting anything like this in David’s notes, and was starting to worry that something more serious was wrong.

Shepard shook his head. “I don’t know.” The slightest waver in his voice betrayed his own worry. “You know I love you, right?”

“Always.” Kaidan pulled him in for a brief but heartfelt kiss, then had to let him go, the next case due to start soon, Shepard being led away, back to his cell.

David appeared at Kaidan’s elbow, and Kaidan felt a sudden spike in his temperature, a knot of anxiety in his gut. 

“We should get ready for the next case,” David said softly, and Kaidan nodded. As a witness in this one, he wasn’t allowed to watch proceedings from the gallery, and he dreaded missing out on so much information, unable to gauge the mood of the case, the progress in their defence. Allers had agreed to sit in on every session and report back to him, but it wasn’t the same as being there.

Outside, the protestors were as loud as ever, a steady chant booming up at the building, and Kaidan wondered at how so many people could unite with one voice… and still go completely unheard.


	12. Help and Hinderance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving house got delayed by a day. So you get an extra chapter now.

“So let me get this straight, Mr. Lee…” a blonde, fresh-faced journalist asked from the television screen, sitting with a suit-wearing lawyer in a non-descript office. “You’re saying that the Self-Determination Act forbids marriage between an alpha and an omega?”

“That’s correct, Irene. Not in so many words, of course, but after the various restrictions it places on intimate relations, that’s the net result. It also states that consensual sex between an alpha and an omega – assuming the omega is not in heat – can only take place if the omega is on suppressants. But problems with the legislation aren’t limited to what is included in the Act. There are also a great deal of things left out, which, according to the everyday citizen, should have been included. For example, there is nothing that gives an omega the right to access suppressants. A doctor can prescribe them, or withhold a prescription at will. And nowhere does it guarantee an omega’s right to bear children, nor does it provide any kind of rights to keep the child. So legally, a child born to an omega could be forcibly removed from them and given to a beta couple.”

“Not many omegas actually want to raise their own children,” the journalist pointed out, perhaps just playing devil’s advocate…

“True. But does that give us the right to choose for them? Isn’t that the same condescending trash that had the government assigning careers to omegas just fifty years ago, regardless of their personal aims or desires? The propaganda of the day was that we were providing them with jobs and livelihoods, so weren’t we marvelous for taking such good care of them? But in reality, they were no better off than they had been in their days as slaves. No real choices of their own, no due process if they wanted to object to their assigned jobs.”

“It’s an excellent point, Mr. Lee, and I wonder if you can answer another question…”

Kaidan tuned the report out as he paced across the living room again. He rubbed his arms, fidgeted with his shirt, the fabric feeling too stiff and scratchy, wondered if he was hungry, then felt nauseous at the thought of food. He’d turned the television on for a distraction, but every channel seemed filled with politics, current affairs shows interviewing every omega with an opinion, the more respectable channels interviewing lawyers and doctors and psychologists. Hardly a good way to get his mind off his current situation.

He felt tense, his skin tight, exhausted but unable to sleep. Long days without his alpha were taking their toll, and he’d gotten next to nothing done today, restless and irritable and utterly unable to concentrate.

It was a week since the Clinic case had begun, and this one was looking to take far longer than Shepard’s individual case had. There were dozens of witnesses, both those who had participated in the clinic and those who had been called in to render all manner of expert witness, from chemists and biologists to doctors, psychiatrists and senior officers in the Alliance. 

David had spent the day at the court house, some of the time conferring with Shepard, the rest of it collaborating with the other lawyers defending the clinic participants, and Kaidan had been grateful for the respite. Despite his best efforts to stay calm around the man, he had a way of infuriating Kaidan with the simplest of gestures or comments. 

As Kaidan reached the end of the room and swung around for the next leg of his pacing, he heard a key in the door, and braced himself for more of David’s British accent and aristocratic arrogance-

“Here, catch.” The lawyer threw something at him as the door opened, and Kaidan caught it reflexively… and felt his entire body spasm, as if it didn’t know whether to tense up or relax completely. He buried his nose in the t-shirt David had tossed at him… and his knees actually buckled. He grabbed for a chair and sat down heavily, still holding the cloth to his face. It smelled absolutely divine… “What the hell?”

“It’s Shepard’s. He’s been sleeping in it. Don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Actually, yes, I do. It’s because I’ve been trying to get him the hell out of jail, rather than making the pair of you happier about him being there. But anyway… better late than never.”

“Thank you.”

“Stick it under your pillow tonight, and you should sleep better. You look like you’ve been sleeping in a dumpster.”

“Fuck you.”

“Well, that is what started all this, isn’t it.” Since Shepard wasn’t there at the moment, David had taken to referencing his previous relationship with him for no better reason than to rattle Kaidan. 

But for today, at least, he wasn’t biting. “How do you know I’ll sleep better?”

“I had a similar situation a couple of years back. A bonded couple I was studying were separated – the circumstances aren’t important – but a good dose of alpha pheromones was pretty much the only thing that got the omega through it. Unpleasant, even so, but it helped a surprising amount.”

“I could give you one of mine for Shepard,” Kaidan said, getting up to go to his bedroom-

“Don’t bother. Yours won’t smell of anything, so it won’t do him any good.”

Kaidan stopped mid-stride. “Mine won’t…? Why not?”

“Bonded omegas who have been separated from their alphas don’t produce any pheromones.”

Kaidan came back, stunned at the revelation. Shepard had said he’d had no scent at the jail… “Why not?” Curiosity was suddenly a living beast in his chest. Finally, answers to his long-asked questions!!

“A defense mechanism, perhaps. Think about it. When an alpha loses his omega, he wants to let everyone in the neighbourhood know that he’s pissed as a lion with a toothache and everybody had better get out of his way. But if a lone omega suddenly started advertising the fact that he’d lost his alpha?”

“Every alpha within a five mile radius would suddenly see him as fair game,” Kaidan concluded easily. 

“Right. So when your alpha goes awol, the omega body simply pretends to be a beta, chemically speaking. Shuts down all pheromones, greatly reduces your sex drive, makes as little noise as possible about the fact that you’re an omega.”

Kaidan stared at the man in stunned silence. Well. That was… surprisingly simple. And a huge relief. There was nothing wrong with him after all, not on that front, at least. The relentless drive for sex was still unexplained… and he considered asking David about that. The humiliation of it would almost be worth having a solid answer…

“What about… what about what happens when the couple get back together?” he asked cautiously, hedging around actually telling David what had happened. “How do their bodies react to each other?”

David took a deep breath and moved further into the apartment, unpacking a briefcase full of data pads onto the table. “The alpha tends to become notoriously territorial, liable to pick fights with any other alpha that comes past. But aside from that, it’s remarkably uneventful. The couple usually just climbs into bed and sleeps for a couple of days. Usually they’re both exhausted, so getting some good quality zz’s is their biggest priority.”

That was it? Really? “How long does it take for their chemistry to readjust to each other?”

“How do you mean?”

Kaidan scrambled for a way to explain his question without telling David what had happened between him and Shepard. “You said that a lone omega produces no pheromones. So when does that go back to normal?”

David stared at him for a moment. Then he leapt into action, grabbing a data pad, making hasty notes. “That’s a remarkably good question. I hadn’t thought of that before. I’ll have to do some more research. Say… are there any other couples from the clinic that have paired up? I mean, aside from Jonn and Steve? Do you think any of them would let me study them? With the alphas all in jail, it’s a perfect chance to run some tests, measure hormone levels…”

“Hey! We’re not your personal lab rats, you narcissistic asshole! These are thinking, feeling people with a huge amount of stress in their lives. You can’t just ask them if they’ll let you study the effects of having their lives ripped apart.”

David stopped and gave him a long, thoughtful stare. “I can see why Shepard likes you so much,” he said finally, before turning back to his work. 

What the fuck? Kaidan decided he didn’t want to know what the hell David was talking about, and he took Shepard’s shirt with him as he retreated to his bedroom. Walking away from the thing was difficult, but he forced himself to tuck it safely underneath his pillow, hoping the scent would diffuse into the fabric by the time he went to bed. 

Back in the kitchen, David had compiled a report for him of the progress of the court case, and as Kaidan skimmed the details, his heart sank. “We’re losing this, aren’t we?”

“We were always going to lose, in a fair fight,” David said. “The law is on their side. You all knew that before you ever started this.” That, at least, was true. They’d counted on the Alliance not ever finding out about the clinic… which was a realistic expectation until they’d started allowing civilians to participate. Without the rigid discipline of military training and not having to worry about losing their careers, civilians were far freer with their gossip… “But we’re not fighting fair,” David went on. “I’ve done a little agitating with the protestors. Indirectly, of course. Called on some politically minded friends to come and drop suggestions into the crowd. Of course, now that the Self-Determination Act has been exposed as the piece of toxic waste that it is, getting it rewritten should be easily. I’m… friends with an alpha in the parliament-“ There was only the slightest hesitation between the words, the barest second in which David averted his gaze… and the pieces all clicked into place. 

“You’ve slept with a member of parliament?” Fucking hell… if he was pimping himself out for political favors, then he was just as likely to do their cause more harm than good-

“It’s… It’s not just casual sex,” David muttered, looking genuinely embarrassed. “We’ve… known each other for many years. I’ve done him a few favors, he’s done me a few… and its in both our interests that the public doesn’t find out about that.”

Kaidan waved away his concern. “My lips are sealed. Not because I give a shit about _you_ , but I’m not going to do anything that’s going to damage this case. Or the omega’s cause in general.”

“Attaboy,” David said drolly. “Back to the point at hand… He’s putting a submission into parliament to reexamine the Act. Depending on the response, he’ll eventually push to have it completely rewritten. And this time, we’re going to insist on a period of public consultation before the bureaucrats decide to play god with omega’s lives.”

Kaidan chuckled sardonically. “You make it all sound so simple. Just ask nicely, and the most controversial piece of legislation in history will be fixed with a few strokes of the pen. Never mind that at least half of that ‘public’ you love so much are demanding we all be locked up as sexual deviants.”

David tossed the datapad to the table and stood up, looking completely pissed off. “Okay, boy wonder. What the hell would _you_ do? Of course it’s not fucking simple, but it’s all I’ve got. So if you don’t like my methods, you tell me what you would do in my place.”

“I would find a way to get Shepard out of jail! And Steve, and Liam, and every other alpha that’s there for no better reason than the bigoted bias of a narcissistic judge. And that’s the only fucking reason I put up with you and your shit, so you want to start telling me how you’re going to make happen?”

“I don’t know! I told you right at the start, on purely legal grounds, it’s an open and shut case. Shepard and Chakwas misused Alliance property, funds and personnel. They did so willingly and knowingly, and neither of them is prepared to admit that any of this was a mistake.”

“It wasn’t a mistake!”

“I know! But I can’t win this case! What I can do is start a revolution, which we’re well overdue for, so instead of sitting around moping into your pillow, how about you get out there and start yelling a few slogans with the rest of the underpaid grunts who make this world keep ticking over.”

They were standing nose to nose, David slightly taller, but Kaidan heavier and stronger.

“I am not sitting around moping! I’ve spent weeks slogging through a mountain of reports and past cases, so that _you_ can supposedly do your job! Which you’re now telling me you’re not going to do anyway! So why don’t I just kick your ass out of this apartment and off this case and hire someone who can do it properly?”

David took a swing at him. And Kaidan was so surprised that he didn’t even try to move out of the way. For a lawyer, he packed quite a punch… but Kaidan had been hit in the face by far scarier things than a pissed off aristocrat in a sharp suit, and had been trained in hand to hand combat long before he’d ever learned to use a gun. He grabbed David and before the man could even cry out in surprise, he had him pinned face down on the floor, arm twisted behind his back, knee pressed heavily between his shoulder blades.

He twisted his arm a little harder, feeling a thrill of satisfaction as David cried out in pain. “So far,” he said quietly, dangerously, “you have done nothing but get me and Shepard further and further apart. He’s slowly going mad, locked away from his bonded omega, and three guards are threatening him with assault charges because in his less lucid moments, he sees them as the cause of his missing omega, and so he keeps trying to kill them. You haven’t managed to prove to the court that bonding even exists – even though the breeding centers agree that it does and there’s a clinic in New York that has produced dozens of studies on it. I realise that you want to start your own personal war. But Shepard hired you to do one thing – get him out of jail. So you start doing that – even at the expense of getting your precious Act rewritten – or I will show you just what a bonded omega is capable of.” His grip tightened a little more, and David whimpered. “Do we have a deal?”

David hesitated, and Kaidan waited, willing to give him time to think it over…”

“No. There’s a bigger picture here- Aahhhh!”

Kaidan twisted the limb until it was just shy of the point where it would break.

“I want Shepard out of jail.”

There was another pause. “Fine. Deal.” David had put up some remarkable resistance, but in the end, he was only a civilian.

Kaidan released him and climbed off him, not bothering to help him up. “Now get your shit out of my apartment. I’ll meet you at the court house, in your office, in a fucking shuttle station if I have to, but I don’t want you back here again.”

David got up, rubbing his arm. He gathered his data pads and files, retrieved the packet of herbal tea he liked that he’d put in the kitchen, collected the spare jacket that he’d left on the back of the couch, and made his way to the door. “I’ll send you the address of an office where we can meet,” he said meekly. “Good night.”


	13. Tempers

“I’m confused,” Jonn said, between bites of cottage pie. “They found Shepard not guilty – and that’s awesome, by the way – but I thought the whole case was about him and you living together and having sex and all that, and then the judge decides it’s all hunky dory because what happened on Mavigon was because of a blizzard? There’s about fifteen million pieces of that puzzle missing right there.”

Kaidan toyed with his food, trying to convince himself that eating it would be worthwhile. He had wondered about Jonn and Steve’s bonding, how far it had progressed, but the fact that Jonn still ate ravenously pretty much confirmed that they hadn’t gotten too far with it yet. He, himself, was having trouble forcing down every mouthful. “The entire case was basically fabricated charges that they weren’t sure they wanted to lay in the first place – bad publicity and all that – so they limited the charges to what happened on Mavigon. Probably because it was more of a black and white picture, or so they thought. Once we were back on earth, there were two things limiting what they could hit us with. Firstly, they put me and Shepard in an apartment together, despite knowing we were an alpha and an omega. And okay, living in the same place isn’t a free pass to get naked and frisky, but the Alliance is worried that if they tried to hit us with that one, we’d just turn around and say they contributed to it by putting us together in the first place. 

“And then there’s some weird regulation about us being on leave. Once the war was over, we were both injured and put on convalescent leave for a couple of months. Technically, whatever we do in our own time is our own business, assuming it’s not illegal – which according to civilian laws, it’s not – so they would have struggled to make any kind of charges stick.”

Jonn thought about that… and shrugged. “I don’t get it. But that’s cool. Basically you’re saying the Alliance screwed up, so they can’t arrest you.”

“In a nutshell.”

“Where’s David?”

Kaidan was getting used to Jonn’s sudden changes of topic, and he didn’t so much as bat an eyelid at the question. “I kicked him out.”

“Why?”

“Because he was pissing me off.”

Jonn regarded him quizzically… and then grinned. “You’re seriously cool, you know that?”

“Oh?”

“When I first met you, you seemed all ‘keep the peace’ and ‘follow the rules’ guy. And you were always talking Shepard down after he went all alpha crazy. But you know how to kick some serious ass when you want to.”

Kaidan raised an eyebrow. “So stepping in front of a flaring alpha bent on beating another alpha into pulp isn’t daring enough for you. Because I remember doing that on a couple of different occasions.”

Jonn snorted. “I called you a knot slut the first day I met you, and you didn’t react at all. I had to wonder if you even had a pulse, for a little while there.”

To be honest, Kaidan had had a similar experience getting to know Jonn. The loud-mouthed, thoughtless boy had slowly become an insightful, curious, courageous young man. But he refrained from saying so. He couldn’t think of any way to describe the transformation without sounding like he was insulting the person Jonn used to be. 

“What are we going to do if all the alphas are found guilty?” Jonn asked, toying with the remaining food on his plate. 

“Jonn… we defeated the reapers,” Kaidan said, sounding far calmer than he felt. “We are going to defeat this narrow-minded bureaucracy if it kills us.”

Jonn nodded, squared his shoulders… and went back to inhaling his meal.

 

Steve stood by the wall in his jail cell, glaring at the door. Tensions were high, and not for the first time, he wished that someone had bothered to write some legislation about alphas. Starting with the fact that more than one of them should _not_ be put in a small space together. As it stood, he, Liam and Namir, three of the alphas from the clinic, had been sharing this small space for a week. And despite being let out to the exercise yard every day, and the extended meetings with their lawyers, the build up of alpha pheromones in the room was driving them all insane. 

Alphas were naturally territorial and competitive. Or so he had always been told. But he’d never believed it until he’d been trapped in a ten foot square space with two other angry alphas. 

So far they had had four fist fights between them. Steve would have preferred to be pacing the room, but that drove the others nuts, and the door was pretty much the only thing he could look at without someone getting pissed off and another yelling match starting.

None of them had been charged with rape, as both they and Chakwas had kept meticulous records of all the relevant consent forms, but even so, they were being treated like sick perverts, depraved sex-addicts who were likely to jump the first omega they saw.

For his own part, Steve had no interest in any omega other than Jonn. He was worried sick about how the young man was doing, especially since he’d heard that Shepard had been arrested. Before that, he’d assumed that Shepard would be looking after the boy, but now… it wasn’t that he doubted Kaidan’s willingness to look after him. But he knew that the pair were bonded, and had little idea how Kaidan would be dealing with the separation. For all he knew, the man could be curled up in a corner somewhere, sobbing his heart out.

“Fuck…” Namir said suddenly, and Steve glanced over to see what the problem was… only to realise that Namir was staring directly back at him.

“What?” he demanded, feeling his temper flare.

“Your eyes,” Namir said, looking half fascinated, half disgusted. “They’re… they’re changing color.”

“What?” Steve stepped over to the mirror, peering at his reflection… and saw tiny threads of gold shimmering around the edges of his irises. The next moment they were gone, and he angled his head, trying to catch the light… “There’s nothing wrong with my eyes,” he snapped, the room suddenly feeling too hot and too small.

“I swear, man, they were changing color.”

“A trick of the light,” Steve insisted, returning to his position by the wall.

Perhaps Namir wanted to say something more… but they’d reached an uneasy truce between themselves, realising that they needed to keep the peace if they were going to have any chance of getting out of here. So Namir said nothing more, and Steve put the idea out of his mind.

 

_‘Andrew, our youngest omega, was kidnapped two days ago. Three alphas rode through the estate and snatched him almost before we knew they were there. The master was furious and immediately summoned the Baron, and a search party was sent out. They lost the tracks in the forest, but Andrew was returned this morning. My heart bleeds for what they did to him. He’s only twenty two, and since he came back, he’s refused to eat or speak to anyone, or leave the omegas’ quarters._

_I went to talk to him – the master said I should, knowing my background. So I did, told him about how I was abused before I came here, told him that the master has said that no one is to mate with him for a while. But there is nothing that can be said to undo what was taken from him, and I find myself sympathizing more with those omegas who are once again breaking from their masters’ bonds and marching on Paris. It is easy to forget here, because we are so well cared for, but Andrew’s pain is the norm across the entire country, and Spain and Italy and England as well-‘_

Kaidan glanced at the clock. 2:54 am. Sleep was still elusive, though he had a fresh shirt from Shepard tucked under his pillow.

Well, actually, it was draped around his neck just at the moment, but still. He’d slept through the first part of the night, exhaustion taking over, but an hour ago he’d found himself suddenly wide awake, and no amount of tossing and turning would calm his racing thoughts.

His omni-tool beeped suddenly, and Kaidan accessed the file that had just come through. It was from David, the smug bastard. He’d finally contacted the clinic in New York, and had three in-depth studies detailing the validity of the bonding theory, each from a different author. 

Kaidan was grateful that David had bothered to follow up on the information, but was irritated by the fact that he hadn’t sought it out weeks ago. For someone who claimed to be an expert on omega behaviour, David had an awful lot of gaps in his knowledge.

He sent a brief reply, then shut the omni-tool off. Reached for the t-shirt around his neck and pressed it to his face. Though it smelled of Shepard, it wasn’t his usual, calming scent. Not the one that made Kaidan feel safe and secure and loved. This was a harsher scent, a battle cry in the olfactory world, and though it was reassuring to know that Shepard was still fighting the good fight, he couldn’t help but wonder how much longer they could do this. And what the result would be if Shepard was found guilty – not just for themselves, but for the entire world.

 

The court room was silent, not even the usual shuffling or coughing breaking the thick sense of anticipation as Dr. Michel addressed the room. “And so Dr. Pellers writes that the psychological effects of separating a bonded alpha and omega are similar to the level of trauma caused by separating a two year old child from its mother. There have been very few opportunities to study the long term effects of the separation, however the short term effects were found to have a significantly detrimental effect on the mood, concentration, and cognitive abilities of all test subjects, as well as a range of physical ills including insomnia, inappetance and elevated cortisol levels.”

The judge was silent for a moment. “And this test you mentioned for detecting the chemical alterations of the bonding… how long does it take?”

“A few minutes for each subject. The process is quite simple. A minute dose of a chemical compound is injected into the bloodstream, and if the individual is bonded, then the eyes will change color within three to four minutes.”

More silence. And then… “That’s a fascinating concept, Doctor, but the fact remains that there is nothing in the Self-Determination Act requiring any kind of concessions to be made for a bonded omega. I am here to uphold the law, and laws often trail some months or years behind science. And just as often, science itself later proves itself to have been wrong. The application for bail is denied.”

 

“This is such a pile of fucking bullshit!” Kaidan sent a chair skidding across the room to crash into the wall. “Fucking narrow-minded ass-wipe of a judge-“

“Hey, hey, hey…” Shepard wrapped his arms around his omega, holding him tightly. David had somehow managed to arrange another visit for them both, this time in an interview room, rather than in the impersonal corridor outside Shepard’s cell. As these rooms were routinely used by lawyers to meet with their clients, they had been assured there was no surveillance in operation, and the freedom to say what they really thought for once was a relief. Jonn had been offered the same opportunity to meet with Steve, and the boy had nearly collapsed in relief at the news. He was currently in the room next door, while David and Steve’s lawyer waited in the hall.

Kaidan felt the soft nuzzling at the back of his neck as Shepard held him firmly, and tried to get himself to calm down. “How are you so fucking calm about this?” he asked, irritated… and then felt Shepard press his fully erect cock against his ass.

“I’m not,” came the husky reply. “But I can rant about how awful the judge is to David. But I can’t do _this_ with him.” He punctuated the statement with a firm thrust of his hips, and Kaidan arched his back, pressing back against him.

“Absolutely not,” he agreed, turning around in Shepard’s arms and tugging him in closer for a hot, wet kiss. Shepard maneuvered them both over to the table, hoisted Kaidan to sit on top of it and reached for his pants. There were firm limits to how far they could go right now – and Shepard would certainly not be finding any satisfaction, neither of them prepared to risk the door opening while they were knotted together – so it was touching and humbling to realise that his alpha wanted to give him some pleasure without being able to take any for himself in return. Shepard opened his pants, slid his hand inside… and froze.

He pulled back and looked down at Kaidan with alarm in his eyes. And as his hand gave a few tentative strokes, Kaidan realised that he was… completely and utterly flaccid.

“Oh, fucking hell!” he cursed loudly, remembering what David had told him before. “Mother fucking son of a bitch… I can’t get it up at the moment,” he explained with a harsh sigh. “David said that when a bonded pair is separated the omega’s body basically shuts down, sexually. It’s some defence mechanism to stop randy alphas coming sniffing at my door.”

“You’re shitting me…” Shepard looked aghast. 

Kaidan shook his head, and gently tugged Shepard’s hand out of his pants. “That’s why you can’t smell me. I’m not producing any pheromones for the same reason.” 

Shepard looked down at him with a critical eye, as Kaidan refastened his pants. “You’ve lost weight,” he said softly.

“So have you.”

“Are you sleeping?”

“Badly. I miss you so much…”

“I love you.”

“I need you back, Shepard.”

“I know…”

They stood there, in each others arms, Kaidan’s face buried against Shepard’s neck, Shepard breathing the scent of his hair, hand cupping the back of his neck for a long time, until finally there was a gentle knock at the door. And when Kaidan pulled back, he realised that Shepard’s shirt was damp. He hastily wiped his eyes – not to prevent Shepard from seeing his tears, but to look presentable in front of David and the guards. Omegas had enough of a reputation as weak-willed saps already, without him giving them more ammunition.

Shepard kissed him one last time, then they headed for the door.

David was waiting for them, and the door to Steve’s room opened at the same time. Jonn came out first, eyes red, while Steve wore a worried frown… and then Jonn saw Shepard.

“Shepard!” He launched himself at the man, hugging him tightly, receiving just as warm a hug in return. “It’s so good to see you. Are you okay? Steve’s been going nuts without me, but me and Kaidan have been looking out for each other real well.”

“Thank you,” Shepard said, smiling down at him. “I’m sure he appreciates the company.” 

And he did, Kaidan admitted to himself. Worrying about Jonn prevented him from getting completely absorbed in his own problems, and making sure the boy ate properly was motivation to persist with his own attempts at eating.

Watching on, David arched a sardonic eyebrow at him. “So Johnny boy gets to give your man a full body hug, but if I so much as lay a finger on him…” He ran a suggestive finger down Shepard’s arm to demonstrate his point, and Kaidan slapped it away. “Why is that?” David asked. “Really, I’m fascinated. What’s the difference between him and me?”

“I don’t want to jump Shepard’s bones,” Jonn blurted out with a snort, which made David laugh… but Kaidan felt a cold thrill run down his spine. Concentrating suddenly, he stepped closer to David – usually he tried to keep as much distance between them as possible – and inhaled slowly and deeply… and there, beneath the expensive aftershave and scented soap, was a faint but undeniable twang of… mating pheromones.

“You fucking asshole,” he said softly, unable to quite believe what he was smelling. He looked up at David’s face, and found the bland, innocent expression to be utterly galling. “You do, don’t you. You want to sleep with Shepard.”

“Kaidan, my boy, that’s ridiculous-“

“I can smell it! That’s why I’ve been wanting to beat the shit out of you for weeks. You’ve been trying to seduce my alpha!”

David took a step back. “Now, listen, Kaidan. I can explain-“

He didn’t get the chance, Kaidan lunging forward and landing a solid blow to his jaw. He didn’t stop there, all reason fled as he dove for the man as he tumbled to the floor, fully intent on choking the life out of him…


	14. The Bargain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm in my new house... mostly. Still waiting for some of the furniture to arrive. So right now I'm sitting on the floor, eating frozen microwave lasagne and typing with my laptop propped on my feet. Which is making my back ache. *sigh* The things I do to keep the plot bunnies happy...

Kaidan glared at the guard as he held an ice pack to his face. Who knew David would have such a mean right hook? The guard was smirking at him, but as Kaidan upped the heat in his glare, his face fell, and he moved away, apparently deciding that there was no sense in poking the angry bear. And to be honest, Kaidan was glad to be left alone for the moment. 

David had fared far worse than he had, his nose broken (again), and he was currently having x-rays done on his jaw to see whether Kaidan had actually fractured it. He’d have been in a far worse state if Shepard hadn’t dragged Kaidan off him. Steve had stepped in to restrain David, but then Jonn had thrown a punch at David instead – no one was quite sure whether it was because David had tried to seduce Shepard, and Jonn was angry about it, or because Jonn objected to seeing his own alpha holding another omega quite so closely. Kaidan had thought he saw faint threads of gold in Jonn’s eyes, but the moment had passed so quickly that he couldn’t say for sure.

Shepard had been surprised, to say the least. He’d detected absolutely no scent from David, at any time during the past few weeks, and was quite astonished that David still felt any kind of desire for him.

“Why do you think I picked you in the first place?” David had asked, once Kaidan was successfully restrained, his voice sounding nasal through his busted nose. “You were the sexiest thing on two legs in the entire base. And that was _before_ you saved the whole galaxy.”

Kaidan had gone for him again then, and the alphas had decided enough was enough, dragging the two omegas away into separate rooms while guards arrived too late to be of any real help.

“Hey, Kaidan.” Jonn slid into the room, looking tense and frustrated. “Fuck, just when you think you know who the good guys are…”

“You ready to go home?” Kaidan asked, easing the ice pack away from the growing bruise on his face. 

“Yeah. Can I stay at your place, though? My apartment’s way too quiet without Steve there.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Kaidan said. “Mine’s just as quiet without Shepard.” He slung an arm around the boy’s shoulder and led him towards the skycar.

 

“I thought you’d want to hear it from me first,” David said, once Kaidan had arrived at the office he’d rented for the duration of the case. “And yes, the guards are here to stop you pounding on me again, because you’re probably going to want to.”

“What the fuck did you do now?” Kaidan asked. He’d agreed to this meeting only because David had told him that it was monumentally important news… but even so, he wasn’t sure if he was wasting his time.

“You remember that parliamentarian I know? Well, his bill was accepted for debate. They’re officially reexamining the Self-Determination Act.”

Kaidan paused. “Okay,” he said carefully. “Big news, but not unexpected. So why the song and dance?”

“Because we’re rewriting history here. And one of the things he’d included in the bill – which is going to be all over the news in about half an hour – is that we need an equal piece of legislation to protect the rights of alphas.”

Kaidan frowned. “Also good news,” he said, feeling annoyed. “Half of any bonded couple is an alpha, and they’re going to need some decent rights written into their bill.”

“So glad you’re on board with the whole idea,” David said, and Kaidan had a sudden premonition that something horrible was about to happen next… “Because part of what I specifically asked him to do was to revoke the rape clause of the section on omega heats.”

Kaidan went cold. David couldn’t mean what he thought he meant… “What?”

“It’s pure biology, Kaidan. If an unbonded alpha smells an omega in heat, they have absolutely no control of themselves. You may as well try to hold back the tide with a broom. You’ve seen it yourself, in Shepard, in the alphas at the clinic. That scent is a biological imperative that no legislation can ever control-“

“That clause was the single most important clause in the entire Act! People bled for that clause. Died for it! It’s the only thing standing between omegas and being gang-raped by packs of alphas. What the fuck are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking with my head and not my emotions,” David said calmly, and it wasn’t until one of the guards stepped in front of him that Kaidan realised he had moved, his hands clenched into fists, his gut roiling in terror. “I’m all in favor of rape laws punishing people who actually intend to rape someone. But all the current set up does is allow omegas to prance about heedless of their own biology and slap the blame all over the nearest alpha. That’s the sort of thinking that has demonized their gender for far too long, and it’s not doing the omegas any favors either.”

“You’re a fucking lunatic. You’re single-handedly undoing a generation’s worth of progress-“

“What I’m trying to do is correct the imbalance of power that means alphas have been cast in the role of thoughtless brute and omegas have been helpless victims of their own ignorance. And before you have another rant about how irresponsible I am, let’s just talk about Shepard for a moment.”

“What?” The man was insane-

“The entire concept of consent and an alpha’s lusty brutality is what led to Shepard being accused of raping you. _That_ is the piece of legislation that very nearly got him put behind bars for years, and would have lost him his career, and lost you your alpha. I’m not suggesting we take away the rape clause and leave nothing in its place. But what should be there is a firm scaffolding for an omega to take notice of their own heat and make preparations for it. I’m not saying they can’t still be raped, but it’s a lot harder for an alpha to do it if the omega is behind a locked door with the windows closed. As unpopular as the idea is, it’s about finally getting enough common sense to say that omegas can, and do contribute to their own violation.”

His blood running like ice in his veins, Kaidan turned on his heel and strode away.

 

 

With that one stroke of the pen, the protests had turned into riots. News of the rewriting of the Self-Determination Act had hit the news just as David had predicted, and the crowd had lost all semblance of peace and order. 

Rape victims had come out en masse to denounce the revoking of the rape clause. Alphas had banded together to demand a fair voice in the new draft of the legislation. Betas were demanding everything from a return to mandatory registration of omegas to tattoos marking alpha and omega genders to forced breeding programs.

And when the shouting and chanting had fallen on deaf ears, the crowd had resorted to throwing rocks and bricks. And when that hadn’t worked, they had started throwing petrol bombs.

Even though the new debate was being held in parliament house, the protestors remained focused on the court house. It had become the epicenter of chaos and meaning for the various movements. There were rumours of a bill to make suppressants mandatory for all omegas, rumours that omegas were going to be banned from the Alliance once more, rumours that alphas were to be chemically castrated by force. 

And as the hours passed and the chaos descended into madness, Kaidan sat in his apartment, eyes glued to the scenes on the television, the volume turned right down, as he went over and over what David had said to him in his office. 

After a hour of angry ranting at the empty apartment, Kaidan had finally taken a mental step back, and in the brief moments when he’d been able to look past his own fear and prejudice, he had had to admit that David had been right. Alphas had no control over their response to the omega heat. No more than the omega did – it just took longer for the omega to lose control. 

In the same way, a bonded alpha whose omega was threatened would kill to defend them – without ever intending murder or wanting to hurt anyone. They simply did it because a chemical reaction in their brain demanded that they do so.

And Kaidan himself had attacked David for the same reason. Logic and self-control and integrity had absolutely nothing to do with it. He had seen a threat to his relationship with his alpha, and he’d reacted blindly with violence.

The same way alphas reacted blindly with lust.

And a small, quiet voice in his head dared to ask why they should be punished for it, when they were no more capable of controlling their mating urges than they were of deciding to stop breathing.

The riots were getting worse, images playing across the screen of people being dragged from the crowd, bleeding and semi-conscious. Police were firing tear gas into the crowds. Fire fighters were trying to put out the fires that had been sparked by the petrol bombs. And Alliance soldiers had been called in, firing rubber bullets at the more violent of the protestors.

In the weeks leading up to this, Kaidan had read of similar riots in the journal of the unnamed omega from the 1800s. They weapons had been less advanced – sticks and pitchforks, rather than tear gas and rubber bullets – but the sentiment in the crowd had been the same: The overwhelming sense of a line drawn in the sand, of a battle cry that said this far, and no further.

The problem, this time around, was that the battle lacked purpose or direction. Everyone was fighting for something different, and, like a freighter pulled a dozen ways, it would end up going no where. 

But if everyone lined up and pulled in one direction, then even the most massive of obstacles could be moved…

Galvanized into motion, Kaidan leapt up, grabbed his jacket and keys, and raced out of the apartment.

 

 

To say David was surprised to see him would have been a gross understatement. “What are you doing here?” David had been reached for a file on a shelf when Kaidan came into the office, and his right hand remained up in the air, wandering about as if lost as David gaped at him.

“Revoking the rape clause is quite probably the single most harmful thing anyone could do to omegas at this stage of the game,” Kaidan said blackly, meaning every word. “Unfortunately, it’s also the kindest thing anyone has done for alphas in over a generation. And I couldn’t stand to see one piece of trashy legislation replaced with another pile of worthless garbage, so I thought it might be worth giving things a nudge in the right direction.”

Realisation settled on David’s face, and he grinned, a slow, eager expression. “So you’ve come to dance with the devil?” he said, opening his arms wide in invitation.

“Exactly.”

“I always knew there was a reason Shepard liked you so much,” he said, cool admiration in his voice. “And since the Commander is indisposed at the moment, I suppose we’re going to need a new poster child for this revelation in values. You feeling up to the task?”

“Not just me,” Kaidan said, a glint in his eye. “If we’re going to redirect history, we’re going to need some serious muscle behind us.” He swung the door open, revealing no less than twenty people standing in the hallway, and more, spilling out of the building. Every omega, every nurse, every cleaner and security guard that had ever set foot inside the mating clinic was lined up behind him, Jonn standing proudly front and center, and Diana Allers beaming from ear to ear just behind him. “We need air time – lots of it – and every single one of us saying the same thing, for the same reasons. We need details – if we’re removing the rape clause, what are we replacing it with? What about omega’s breeding rights? What about alpha’s breeding rights? If they sire a child, should they have the right to raise it? We need hard scientific evidence for everything – heats, bonding, child birth, all the psychology involved. We need people to be thinking deeply about these issues, and for that, they need to be educated.”

“I can arrange 24 hour a day coverage on seven channels,” Allers volunteered. “Journalists at your beck and call. Discussions forums on the extranet. I’ve even got asari mediators to oversee the discussions – that way, there’s no risk of anyone accusing them of bias.”

The expression on David’s face was unreadable, and Kaidan suspected for a moment that he’d actually managed to surprise the man. “You seem to have everything covered,” he ventured cautiously. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Because I still need something from you,” Kaidan said firmly, looking David in the eye. “You wanted a war, a revolution in values for the genders. I’m giving you that. And so I expect you to give me the one thing I want more than anything else.”

“And that would be?”

“I want Shepard out of jail.”


	15. The Verdict

Kaidan hadn’t seen David in four days. As promised, he’d steered the collective efforts of the clinic staff towards a specific goal. In consultation with David’s parliamentary friend, they’d drafted a document detailing a feasible set of laws governing the behaviour of both alphas and omegas during a heat. They’d suggested reducing the consent buffer from 48 hours to 6. Half a dozen doctors had spent hours in interviews explaining alpha and omega physiology, courtesy of Dr. Michel and a seemingly endless supply of data from the clinic in New York. They’d all spent air time discussing breeding laws, mating laws, suppressants, bonding – every conceivable topic. 

And in return, David abandoned his efforts to stir up the political world, seeing that Kaidan was making more than enough waves for them both, and had buried himself in the task of winning the seemingly unwinnable case for Shepard and the alphas of the mating clinic.

But as time dragged on with no apparent progress, Kaidan was finding it harder and harder to maintain his faith in a positive outcome. The judge just wasn’t willing to budge, holding fast to current laws – the new ones would take weeks, if not months to come into effect, and that was assuming the parliament could even reach agreement on what those laws should be. The riots had calmed, returning to vocal protests rather than violent confrontations, and the crowd had split into two distinct factions – those who sided with Kaidan and his team, supporting a well-thought-out review of the Act, and those who were unwilling to consider a relationship between an alpha and an omega as anything other than derogatory and indecent.

The trial wore on, witness after witness, report after report churned over, only for the same questions and objections to be covered again the next day with the next round of witnesses. The strain was beginning to show on David’s face – even as his new bruises faded – and Kaidan began to wonder if he would ever see his alpha free again. 

He’d spoken to David earlier in the day via comm link and the man had seemed unusually reticent. Since they’d struck their unusual deal, he’d been far more cooperative, eschewing his usual habit of insulting Kaidan, but today he’d had next to nothing to say – not even any rogue comments on the interview Kaidan had done yesterday, in which he’d reminded the Alliance that without Shepard’s efforts, they wouldn’t even be having this debate, all of them harvested by the reapers, so surely a few compromises for _alphas like Shepard_ were in order. 

He and David didn’t agree on everything, of course, but significant progress had been made by their willingness to compromise on detail, while agreeing on the overall ethics of the thing. But today, David had had nothing to say even on Kaidan’s somewhat liberal interpretation of how a ‘parent’ should be defined, and had given in far too easily on a disagreement about whether or not divorce should be allowed for bonded couples. Kaidan had been firmly in the ‘no’ camp, of course, unable to imagine life apart from Shepard, and while he knew he was reacting with emotion rather than logic, he’d expected David to talk him around to the other side of the argument. But instead, he’d sighed, agreed with Kaidan and moved on to the next topic.

Something was off about the man, and in the end, Kaidan had simply lost patience with all the skirting around and demanded to know whether David thought he could win the case. 

“Miracles do happen,” had been the enigmatic reply, after which he’d quickly ended the call.

It was now 7 pm, the evening news playing on the television while Jonn lay sprawled on the sofa reading the journal from the 1800’s omega, Kaidan having given him a copy, while Kaidan was cleaning the kitchen. A sudden burst of loud and prolonged cursing from Jonn brought Kaidan dashing out into the living room.

“And just repeating that breaking news,” the reporter on the television was saying, “Judge Goldman has been shot and killed by a single incendiary round to the head. A sniper rifle delivered the lethal shot at 6 o’clock this afternoon as the judge stood inside his London home. No suspects have been arrested, and investigations are ongoing. The judge was best known for his most recent case, presiding over the so called ‘mating clinic’ trial of Commander Shepard and a number of staff from an Alliance base here in London.”

Kaidan gaped at the screen in shock as the report went on. Dead? Their judge was dead? Assassinated, with clean precision. Garrus himself couldn’t have done a better job, no witnesses, no evidence, one clean shot to take down a target. But as shocking as the news was, Kaidan felt a guilty flush of relief. There had been little to no chance of winning the case with this judge presiding over it. With a new judge, he could hope, at least, that they might have a better chance…

Kaidan froze as a new, and far more sinister thought occurred to him. David wouldn’t have… would he? Okay, so he was seriously unconventional, dogged in his persistence, viciously tenacious about anything to do with omega rights… but assassination? 

He reached for his omni-tool, wanting to hear David deny it, to know that he wouldn’t have resorted to such methods… and hesitated with his hand over the call button.

No, he realised, after a moment. He didn’t want to know. He deactivated the call, shut the omni-tool off. Jonn was still sitting with his attention glued to the screen, and Kaidan took a moment to compose himself. He didn’t want to know whether David had done this or not. He didn’t want to acknowledge that he, himself, would be grateful for the death of this judge, if it meant he got Shepard back. And he didn’t want the ambiguity of knowing that he’d put David in such a tight corner that murder might have become the only viable option.

 

 

The court room was a cacophony of voices, everyone demanding to know what was going on, who the new judge would be, whether they would have to restart the entire case. Weeks into proceedings, everyone was tired, the alphas all sporting bruises from their over-heated tempers, Chakwas looking drained and despondent. Even now, in the courtroom, the lawyers were yelling threats at each other about how incompetent the other side was, tempers frayed on both sides. Though David seemed to rather be enjoying exercising his wit as he came up with more and more colourful and unlikely descriptions for the prosecution’s team.

Shepard sat beside David, Chakwas and her lawyer on his other side, waiting quietly for the chaos to be brought to order. He was shaking, muscles twitching as his latest side-effect of being separated from his omega for so long. The news of Judge Goldman’s murder had broken three days ago, and for those three long, painful days, there had been no decision from Alliance HQ about what was to happen next.

This morning, however, they’d all been summoned to the courtroom with news that a new judge had been appointed. There was no answer as to the rest of their questions, though, and the thought of rehashing everything they’d already covered again was agonizing…

“Order! Order in the court!” A booming voice broke over the shouting, and within one startlingly short minute, everyone was seated and silent, eager for things to get underway again – one way or another.

“All rise for the Honourable Judge Deniau.” Everyone stood, and a short, plump woman strode into the room with an air of authority. She sat at the bench, and the rest of the room sat down.

The judge calmly arranged her datapads and notes in front of her, then looked up to cast a speculative eye around the room. Her gaze lingered on Shepard, and he returned her gaze steadily.

“I’m sure you’re all anxious to know where we stand with current proceedings,” she said finally, without preamble. “I have reviewed the evidence which has already been given in detail – which was why this trial has been delayed in being resumed. I decided it would be quicker to examine Judge Goldman’s notes and the records of the evidence presented rather than to go over it all again.” There was a collective sigh of relief throughout the room. “And to begin proceedings today, let me first say that while Goldman, God rest his soul, did an admirable job with great thoroughness, there is one question that I personally believe to be of most pertinent importance to this case, which no one has yet seen fit to ask. Commander John Shepard, would you stand up, please.”

Shepard got up, trying to control his shaking. 

“The details of what happened within the mating clinic have become quite clear, on the basis of evidence examined so far. You have never denied your involvement, nor attempted to hide behind any kind of misunderstanding of the nature of the clinic. You arranged for serving members of the Alliance to be paired off together and have sex. Correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Shepard replied. Goldman had been a bigot and a bully, right through both trials. He had yet to get a feel for this new judge, and wondered where she was going with this.

“So the ‘what’ of the clinic is well understood at this stage. What I would like to ask you is the ‘why’. Knowing that what you were doing was illegal, knowing that if discovered, you would end up in a situation very like this one, _why_ , Commander, did you choose to go ahead with it? Why did you risk the careers of your comrades? Why, when there was little to no benefit to yourself personally, would you take such a gamble?”

Shepard hesitated, wondering how best to answer the question. He wasn’t trying to be clever with his answer, wasn’t trying to sway the judges opinion by coloring the reasoning one way or another. It was simply a very complex situation, with no short, concise answer. “Are you familiar with the details of my previous trial regarding the events on Mavigon?” he asked finally, deciding that was the best place to start.

“I’ve read through Goldman’s notes, yes, and I’m familiar with the general gist of the case.”

“On Mavigon, I was required to mate with Major Alenko during his heat. Things didn’t go particularly smoothly, and for a short period, I witnessed him experiencing the heat-pain. It was… disturbing. By the time the crisis with the suppressants hit, I was very familiar with omega physiology, and…” Shepard took a deep breath. Let it out. Swallowed hard. “And I couldn’t, in good conscience, stand back and watch my colleagues – some of them people I had personally fought and bled beside – go through that kind of pain alone. Nor could I abandon them to be raped by whatever alpha they happened to come across. I have always said that the mating clinic was a bad idea. It was a horrendous breach of ethics, regulations and good sense. But it was the best of a big pile of really bad ideas, and I not only pursued that option, but forcefully manipulated other personnel into participating, because I genuinely believed it to be the least bad option for the omegas involved.”

The judge regarded him thoughtfully, silently contemplating his words. “And with the benefit of hindsight, do you now wish you had done anything differently?”

Shepard ran through the entire episode in his head. The things that had gone right. The things that had gone wrong. “There are a few minor details I would change,” he admitted, thinking back to his unfortunate fight with Liam, “but on the whole, if I had the chance over again, I would do exactly the same thing now. Every single omega who went through the clinic has expressed their deep gratitude for the opportunity. We ended up with no serious injuries, no rapes, no complaints about the behaviour of the alphas… for all that the world seems to be viewing it as a den of debauchery, the people who actually worked in it, participated in it, have had nothing but praise for it. So no, I have no regrets.”

The judge nodded slowly and made some notes on her data pad. “Thank you, Commander. You may be seated. Doctor Chakwas, please stand up.” Chakwas did. “Same question for you. What was it that convinced you that such an unconventional treatment plan was either appropriate, or likely to be effective?”

 

 

Four hours later, Shepard sat in the courtroom, waiting for the judge to return. She’d called a recess and retreated to her office, after only a handful of questions to half a dozen witnesses. Granted, they had covered a lot of ground on previous days when Goldman was the judge, but today’s hearing had seemed strangely short and lacking in depth compared to the extensive examination the other evidence had received. David, Chakwas’s lawyer and the lead two prosecution lawyers had been called in for a private discussion with the judge, though upon his return, David had refused to tell Shepard what had gone on behind closed doors. He trusted the man implicitly, but being left in the dark about something so important sat ill with him.

Finally, Judge Deniau returned, sitting quietly at the bench, arranging her notes before she looked up to address the room. “Ladies and Gentlemen, with the agreement of both the prosecution and the defence, I have determined that I have enough evidence to make a ruling on this case. Judge Goldman was quite thorough in his exploration of the issues involved, and I see no benefit in dragging this out any further.” Shepard felt his heart start pounding, his throat tight. Surely David would never have agreed to this unless it was going to go in their favor? Had the judge already given them the verdict? Or was this a reckless gamble with his future and his career?

“Regardless of my personal feelings for the current social upheaval surrounding omegas and the anticipated re-writing of the Self-Determination Act, I am governed by Alliance regulations and laws, and my duty is to uphold those laws, regardless of public sentiment. Alliance regulations regarding sexual relationships between alphas and omegas are very clear, as are regulations regarding the use of Alliance resources for personal purposes. Medical regulations detail clear boundaries between doctor and patient – regulations which have clearly been breached in a variety of ways. I therefore find Commander Shepard guilty of misuse of Alliance resources, of encouraging Alliance personnel to breach regulations, of behaving in a manner which brings the Alliance into disrepute, and of creating unsafe work conditions for Alliance personnel.”

Guilty. Shepard’s jaw dropped and he looked frantically to David for an explanation. But David avoided his eyes, staring straight ahead, looking disturbingly calm. God, what was he supposed to do now? He would be separated from Kaidan for months, maybe years. His career would be over… But he had barely begun to absorb the shock of that verdict when the Judge went on. 

“I also find Doctor Karin Chakwas guilty of gross misconduct in her role as Alliance doctor and of misuse of Alliance resources. I find each of the alphas involved in the clinic guilty of breaching regulations restricting the sexual activity of alphas serving in the Alliance and of endangering the health and safety of omegas serving in the South London Base.” Guilty. All of them. Why the hell had David agreed to this? Surely with more time, with a better opportunity to explain things, they could have gotten a better outcome? 

“Both the prosecution and defence have agreed that sentencing should proceed immediately,” the judge went on, and Shepard held his breath. His shaking got worse. He couldn’t stand to be separated from Kaidan for much longer. He was going to go mad. He was barely able to restrain his growing aggression as it was, and it wouldn’t be long before he did someone some serious damage…

“Commander Shepard. Due to the extremely unusual extenuating circumstances surrounding the instigation of this clinic, I hereby sentence you to thirty days imprisonment. You will have this verdict permanently recorded in your service record. However, since you have already served the term of your sentence throughout this trial, you are cleared to be released immediately.”

Shepard was too stunned to even react. He looked blankly at the judge… then turned to David, who was sitting there, now with a smug grin on his face. “What?” he asked quietly, utterly confused.

“You’ve already served your sentence,” David whispered to him happily. “So you’re free to go.”

Shepard gaped at him… but the judge wasn’t done yet. She rattled off a list of names of the alphas who had participated. “All of these personnel shall be required to serve twenty days in prison. I believe that all concerned have already fulfilled their required sentence, and shall therefore be released immediately.”

This was some bizarre game, Shepard realised. A guilty verdict, for political reasons, but the lightest sentence possible. But she wasn’t done with Chakwas yet…

“Doctor Chakwas. Your involvement in the clinic was more troubling, given your responsibilities as a doctor to see to your patient’s wellbeing, and given the extreme risks and unknown factors which played into these matings. I therefore sentence you to thirty days in prison – of which you have already served the full term – but in addition, I am restricting the terms of your medical service within the Alliance. You shall, from now on, be banned from acting in any role which requires your medical advice in a sexual or reproductive capacity. With sentencing complete, I am declaring this case as closed.” 

The banging of the gavel had never been a more welcome sound.


	16. Reunions

Shepard was stunned. He was standing in the hallway outside the courtroom, waiting for David to complete all the necessary documents and finalize the sentencing with the judge. Chakwas looked as stunned as him. For all that she had been given a ‘harsher’ sentence, there was actually very little work within the Alliance that had anything to do with breeding, so she had a more or less free rein to continue tending her patients just as she had before. Neither of them had yet found words to express their relief, and Shepard had sent a brief, written message to Kaidan to get down to the courthouse and collect him asap.

And god bless the man, there had been no frantic call asking for details, no panic, no stalling, just a short message in return, saying ‘On my way.’

The hallway was clearing out now, the media rushing outside to make their excited reports, spectators heading off, the other alphas escaping outside as soon as they were able… until it was just Shepard, Chakwas and a few lingering legal aides loitering in the hallway.

The courtroom door opened and the lawyers spilled out, David immediately transferring a document to Shepard’s omni-tool finalizing his release from jail, and he sighed in relief as he read it. Free. Finally…

“I’ll wait outside,” David told him, and Shepard was surprised to find that the last stragglers had exited the hallway, Chakwas’s lawyer leading her away to wrap up their side of the case… leaving Shepard alone with Judge Deniau.

“Commander Shepard,” she said, with such an air of admiration and awe that he wondered what he had done to impress her so much. Okay, so he still had a collection of fans left over from the war, but this confident, savvy judge didn’t seem like the type to indulge in hero worship…

“I take it the verdict was acceptable for you?”

“Very much so,” he said, gratitude thick in his voice. “I realise there are some necessary politics involved here, but I can’t tell you how grateful I am-“

“Think nothing of it, Commander,” she interrupted. “Rather, I feel grateful for all you have done – in both the recent, and the more distant past.” She looked around, making sure they were alone. “May I tell you a secret? One that I must insist you take with you to your grave.”

Shepard paused. Considered the request seriously, because such a request, from such a powerful person, would have to involve a secret of some weight. Then he nodded his head solemnly. “Of course.”

The judge smiled, a sad, pensive expression. “I’m an omega,” she said suddenly, causing Shepard’s jaw to drop. “I went through law school under a false ID – they weren’t accepting omegas at the time I enrolled – but by the time I graduated, omegas were legally allowed to become lawyers. And then judges. But that’s beside the point. When the suppressant crisis hit… well, nature has no respect for our delusions of status. I went through my heat a few months ago, along with a vast number of other omegas.” She took a steadying breath, then continued. “I went through it alone.”

Shepard’s face paled. “I see.”

“I would not wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy,” the judge said succinctly. “And so I fully understand why you did what you did for the omegas at the base. And I suppose I want to apologise for the guilty verdict. Regardless of the circumstances involved, it’s still a dark stain on your record. But ultimately, my job is to uphold Alliance law, not to make exceptions based on my own feelings.”

“I completely understand,” Shepard said, feeling no animosity at all towards her. “I’m just grateful to be able to go home.”

“The Alliance needs more men like you,” the judge said, offering her hand for him to shake. “I’m glad I got the chance to finish this case for you. Despite the… awkward circumstances,” she added, referring to Judge Goldman’s death. “No doubt your lawyers will have to answer some sticky questions in the not too distant future.”

Shepard managed to look surprised, as if the idea of David being involved in Goldman’s death had never even occurred to him. “You’re suggesting that highly skilled, experienced lawyers at the top of their fields would have to resort to… murder? That seems a little far fetched to me.”

“Indeed,” Deniau agreed dryly. “But none the less, a formal investigation will be carried out. Just following procedure, you understand.”

“Of course,” Shepard agreed amiably. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have someone waiting for me outside.” In all honesty, he had no idea whether David had been involved in Goldman’s murder… and he didn’t actually want to know. The man had already started riots, instigated changes to the law and broken more social conventions in a few weeks than most people did in a lifetime. Shepard had no idea what the man’s big picture plan was, and no interest in finding out.

“Best of luck, Shepard,” the judge said, offering her hand for him to shake. “I hope our paths cross again in the future.”

 

 

As Shepard emerged from the court house, he saw Kaidan pull up in a sky car. Jonn leapt out first, dashing over to Steve and engulfing him in a bear-hug. Kaidan was more subdued, hugging Shepard tightly, then pulling back to demand an explanation. Reluctant to get his hopes up, Shepard supposed, if nothing was to come of it…

“I was found guilty,” Shepard said, rushing on before Kaidan could panic. “But the judge said I’ve already served my full sentence, so I’m free to go. We all are,” he added, nodding to the other alphas. Most of them were lingering in a group, some of the team of lawyers tagging along, and Shepard heard a few remarks about the location of the nearest pub, even as the group tried to fend off a hoard of overzealous reporters.

Steve was dragging a very willing Jonn away to find a taxi home, and Shepard didn’t even have the strength to offer them a lift. He wanted Kaidan to himself, NOW, and even the ride home was going to be a trial of extreme patience. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, not even sparing a word of farewell to David. The omega had done well today, and Shepard made a mental note to buy him something nice. A car, maybe, or a lifetime’s supply of cabinet merlot…

Kaidan was already leading them through the throng of reporters, most of them having the decency to let them past, given the amount of publicity Kaidan had been generating for the cause lately – but then again, half these reporters were no doubt good friends with him now, and they could count on an exclusive interview in a day or two, once things settled down. And if Shepard could ever let his omega out of his sight again.

The ride home was done carefully, Kaidan trying hard to concentrate on driving, but even so, they had a near miss with a transport shuttle and had to swerve around a pole that Kaidan seemed to simply not see until the last second.

But finally they arrived, and Shepard barely managed to climb out of the car, needing to be closer to his omega at all times. A neighbour called a greeting to them as they arrived, and Shepard growled at the woman with bared teeth… but she merely laughed and told them to have fun.

Once they were inside, safely tucked away in privacy, Shepard didn’t let them get any further than a step beyond the door, pulling Kaidan into his arms and just holding him. 

Kaidan didn’t seem to mind in the least, wrapping his arms around Shepard’s waist and leaning his head against his shoulder. They didn’t kiss, didn’t stroke or grope or fidget… just stood with their bodies pressed into each other and breathed, for what seemed like the first time in months. 

His omega smelled of nothing at all. Knowing the reasons why now, Shepard tried to relax, to just enjoy being with him again… but a lingering worry made him wonder how long it would take them to readjust to being together. Was there any permanent damage done by the separation? And his omega needed to gain some weight. He felt thinner, leaner than he had before, muscles standing out in stark definition. It was hard not to sit him at the table and force feed him straight away… but that would have required letting the man go, something Shepard was absolutely not going to do anytime today. 

Slowly, lazily, long minutes later, Shepard tilted Kaidan’s head up and leaned in to kiss him, a slow, tender meeting of mouths that was all about affection and longing and the promise of slow hours locked away together.

“How are you feeling?” he asked finally, backing away just far enough to assess his lover… who looked utterly exhausted. 

“Tired,” Kaidan said briefly. “And kind of overwhelmed. This just feels surreal at the moment. You’re really home, right?”

“Yeah. Absolutely.”

Kaidan nodded, leaning his head against Shepard’s shoulder again… and Shepard felt an answering wave of tiredness himself. But more than the siren call of sleep, after weeks in a grimy jail cell, there was another need that was even more insistent… “I need a shower,” he said, then abruptly yawned.

“Don’t want you out of my sight,” Kaidan protested, even as Shepard unwound his arms and started for the bathroom. 

“Come with me then,” he said simply, tugging Kaidan along, and that got him a smile. And god, he’d missed that, that almost bashful look that was tinged with desire. It seemed like years since he’d seen it, and felt a flush of warmth that he could still inspire that shy longing in his partner. 

In the bathroom, they both shed clothes quickly, and Shepard turned the shower on, waiting for the water to heat, then tugged Kaidan under the flow. He was hard, powerfully aroused by the sight of his naked lover, but he was aware that Kaidan wasn’t.

“Do you want to…?” Kaidan wrapped a tentative hand around Shepard’s erection, but he shook his head and eased the hand away again. 

“No. You said you can’t… um…”

“Not at the moment. I don’t know how long it takes to come back,” he admitted with a blush, and Shepard instantly had his arms around him again, kissing his fears away. 

“I’ll wait. As long as it takes. It’s fine, really. Just being with you again is enough.”

Kaidan nodded, and they took their time washing each other, getting reacquainted with each other’s bodies in a way that was designed to be soothing, rather than stimulating. By the time they were dried off and heading to bed, Shepard was still hard, and Kaidan paused in the doorway to their bedroom. “We could… we’ve got some lube, and if you want to, we could-“

“No. Kaidan…”

“I love you,” Kaidan said, stepping close, kissing him again. “You don’t have to wait.”

Shepard returned the kiss, ran a hand down Kaidan’s back to his buttocks, quested between them… and found his passage utterly dry. “No, Kaidan,” he said firmly. “Give it time.” He guided his lover down into bed, wrapping himself around him like a living blanket, even as he tugged the real one over them. Kaidan settle against him with a happy sigh… and only moments later, his breathing evened out and his body relaxed.

Shepard was having trouble staying awake himself, and waited a minute or two more, just to make sure Kaidan was settled. He leaned down and inhaled, longing for his lover’s unique scent. And there, beneath the faint scent of soap and the fabric softener they used on the sheets… there was the faintest trace of omega scent. Shepard smiled to himself, wrapped his arms around Kaidan, and drifted off to sleep.

 

Kaidan snuggled into the warmth beside him, pressing his nose further into that wonderful scent. He wasn’t sure what it was, still mostly asleep, but he felt warm and relaxed and satisfied in a way that he hadn’t in ages. Sunlight was fighting to get in around the edges of the curtains and he pressed his eyes more tightly closed, wanting to linger in bed longer, not wanting the day to drag him away to work and duty… and what the hell was that fantastic scent? It was like Shepard, but richer, deeper, and he eventually had to pry his eyes open… startled to find vivid blue ones looking down at him, a pleased smirk on a delectably kissable mouth…

He was all but draped over Shepard’s chest, and that arresting scent was rising up over his entire body. The harsh edge it had carried for the past few weeks was gone, replaced by a soothing smoothness… and a sharp, lusty twang. Kaidan felt a flush of moisture in his back passage and a throb as his cock decided quite suddenly to get in on the action.

“Mmm… Morning.”

Shepard chuckled, and Kaidan realised that he could feel his lover’s sizable erection pressed against his thigh. “Morning,” Shepard replied, running his hands down Kaidan’s back. “Sleep well?”

“Mmm…” Those lips were just too tempting, and Kaidan squirmed his way up Shepard’s body until he could reach them. He ended up straddling his alpha, their groins pressed together, rocking slowly back and forth as hands started wandering to other parts of their bodies, chest, nipples, hips… Kaidan gasped as he felt Shepard test his opening with a tentative finger, and then the gasp became a moan as that finger slipped inside, teasing his prostate in rhythmic strokes.

“Didn’t take long for you to get back online,” Shepard teased, earning a husky laugh from Kaidan. 

“Thank god for that,” he replied, pressing back harder against Shepard’s fingers, arching his back. “Couldn’t stand waiting much longer…” He opened his eyes from where they’d closed in pleasure and saw that Shepard’s were a vivid golden color. And from the slightly surprised look on Shepard’s face, he suspected his own were, too.

“I have missed you so much,” Shepard murmured, removing his fingers. Then he gracefully flipped them over, Kaidan landing on his back with a laugh which turned quickly into a moan as Shepard slid down the bed, a trail of hot kisses ending at his throbbing erection. He slid his mouth over it without hesitation, tongue working against it in encouraging waves…

“Fuck… I’m… Shep… Ahh, fuck!!” Kaidan came that quickly, and Shepard imagined he could _feel_ his eyes glowing gold as he tasted his lover, then he felt a flush of heat right through his body as he swallowed. 

He’d wanted this to go slowly, a drawn out getting-to-know-you-again that would leave them both thoroughly satisfied, but he realised quickly that his omega’s scent was coming back, thick and strong, and the combination of the scent and the taste of him, the expanse of warm skin pressed against his own, was going to leave him with little choice in the matter. He needed to come. Hard.

He rose to kneel on the bed, parting Kaidan’s thighs as his fingers once again found that tantalising opening, slick with lubricant, and he felt a wave of relief that his lover’s body was returning to normal so quickly. He shuffled forward, Kaidan mewling in anticipation-

A thudding knock at the door made them both jump. “What the hell?”

“Shepard!” came a loud shout, and Shepard felt Kaidan tense beneath him as he recognised David’s voice. Not that he wasn’t suddenly rather tense himself. “Shepard! Open the door. Big news.” The thumping knock came again.

“I’m going to kill him,” Kaidan stated flatly, rolling over and climbing out of bed. “I’m going to kill that cocksucking lawyer and bury his body in the woods-“

The bright flash of gold in his eyes suggested that maybe, just maybe, he was actually serious, and Shepard moved quickly, darting after Kaidan and grabbing him in a tight hold. “No, lover. Not today.”

“Let me go,” Kaidan said, sounding pissed off. “That asshole needs to be brought down a peg or two-“

Weighing up the options for a split second, Shepard tilted his head and bit Kaidan firmly on the back of the neck. It wasn’t a hard bite, certainly nothing like he’d done in hospital when Kaidan had been in pain, but it was enough to get his attention. He felt Kaidan’s body tremble, felt the easing of tension in his muscles and held him tighter as his legs wobbled just the slightest bit.

“Fuck… Shepard…” The husky plea in that voice sent blood shooting straight to his groin, making him wish they could just tumble back into bed.

“Calm down,” Shepard said gently. “He’s an asshole, I know. But he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

The shouting at the front door was still going on, and then David said something that got both their attention. “I know you’re probably wanting to kill me right now, but they’ve released the first draft of the new legislation. So put your clothes back on and get out here.”

Shepard and Kaidan glanced at each other, and then both dove for their clothes in a way that would have been comical, if it wasn’t so serious.

Less than thirty seconds later, Shepard was opening the door, and David immediately handed him a data pad. Then another to Kaidan, when he appeared behind him. “First draft only, like I said, but good god, it’s hideous. We’ve got work to do, lads. Lots of work. Didn’t mean to interrupt your honeymoon and all, but you need to read this. And then get down to my office. I wouldn’t have bothered coming here in person, but neither of you is answering any of your messages.” The last was said as a clear reprimand, and Shepard glanced at his omni-tool. Fifteen messages from David, the first arriving at a little before 6 o’clock this morning.

“Give us half an hour,” he said distractedly, already skimming through the first few clauses of the new draft of the Act. “We’ll be there.”


	17. Interrupted

The riots had started all over again, and in all honesty, it was no surprise. The revised version of the Act was a mess. They’d refused to budge on the 48 hours consent for heats, refused to give alphas any kind of parenting rights over children they sired, they’d included a clause giving omegas the right to breed at will, but stopped short of letting them keep the child they birthed, and then they’d made suppressants mandatory for omegas not contracted to breeding centers. There was a provision that made it illegal to sack an omega from a job – making it highly unlikely that any employer would ever hire one, since they couldn’t get rid of them again, and while they had included a clause that said alphas should not be housed together in jails, there was nothing stopping an alpha from being kept with an omega – and if that wasn’t just asking for the omega to be raped while incarcerated, then what was?

Someone had gotten their hands on a Mako and driven the thing up the stairs in front of the court house and smashed it right into the entrance-way – which had held up only because it had originally been designed to withstand a bomb blast – and the crowds were once again resorting to petrol bombs and rock-throwing, the police holding a line of defense in front of the legal offices, but not even attempting to disperse the crowd. And with the number of alphas and omegas serving on the force, perhaps they were privately in favor of the chaos, despite their duty to preserve law and order.

The copies of the Act that David had given Kaidan and Shepard had been peppered with his own notes – often deeply derogatory comments – about what was wrong with the legislation, and it had taken forty minutes to read through the whole thing. Once they were properly dressed and up to speed, Shepard had driven them to the office – understanding Kaidan’s reasons for having banned David from their house, given the fight they’d had at the jail – and when they finally arrived, half an hour after they said they would be there, it was to a wave of applause, then another wave of shouting, as protestors and journalists alike worked themselves into a frenzy, not only about the legislation, but also about the verdict on the mating clinic case – still fresh news, and since few of the participants had given interviews yet, it was still very much the focus of the day.

Both Shepard and Kaidan still felt rather more highly strung than they were comfortable with, the urge to mate strong, but the need to secure a sensible future for both their genders was stronger. But even so, they were both being careful to keep each other within arms reach, paranoid about the chance of being separated again. 

Most of the journalists they ignored, having both assumed that an interview with Allers was on the cards once they got everything else sorted out, but as they made their way towards the police barricade to request admission into the legal offices to meet David, one stray question from a journalist caught Kaidan’s attention.

“Do you think this behaviour is appropriate for omegas? Wouldn’t they get more respect by acting with decency and restraint?”

Kaidan spun around, seeing the young woman who had spoken, and the instant she saw she had his attention, she darted forward and shoved a microphone in his face. Shepard was by his side an instant later, eyes flaring gold as the crowd sent his protective instincts into overdrive.

A thousand thoughts flashed through Kaidan’s mind, the question honest, but so misguided that he couldn’t stand by and say nothing. “No,” he told the reporter firmly. “Omegas have acted with what you call ‘decency and restraint’ for hundreds of years, and all it ever got us was enslaved and downtrodden.” 

He’d always supported the general idea of the omega’s historical push for freedom, profoundly grateful for the liberties he lived with because of their efforts, but given that most of the riots were over by the time Kaidan had become a teenager, he’d never thought he would have to fight in one. The journal of the unnamed omega from France had ignited a new fire in him, though, the descriptions of the omegas’ oppression so vivid and depraved that he almost felt like he knew some of them – the omegas who lived on the estate, the alphas who owned them, the local baron and his surprising antics. He’d never been raped, never been sacked for being the wrong gender, never been thrown out of a school or banned from a career because of the way he was born, but plenty of omegas had. And he was not going to tell anyone to back down now because things had moved a few small steps in the right direction. 

“We have stated our desires and requested your respect calmly and peacefully for generations. And that voice has universally gone unheard. We are not asking society to throw us a few token tidbits to appease us. We’re not fighting this legislation so that we can take one more measly step in the right direction, then come back to fight this war again in another decade, once the world’s values catch up. We are demanding total equality. Freedom. Recognition that we are as human as any beta, as capable, as important, with just as much right to govern our own lives. So if a riot is the only way to get the beta majority to listen, then rioting is _exactly_ what the rest of us should be doing.”

He turned and walked away, leaving the journalist gaping after him. 

“You’re turning into quite the anarchist,” Shepard said softly, his tone amused as he guided his omega carefully through the crowd.

“This piece of dog’s vomit,” he snapped, holding up the datapad with the new Act on it, “has dragged me out of bed when I should be flat on my back with a knot up my ass. What can I say? I’m pissed off.”

Shepard chuckled into his ear, sneaking in a quick squeeze of his butt cheek. “Then let’s get this over with and get back home asap.”

 

 

David was livid. The comments he’d written for Shepard and Kaidan to read were rather tame, Kaidan realised, as he listened to the man rant vitriolic hate at the politicians who had crafted the new bill. He’d never truly seen David lose his temper before, for all their quarrelling with each other, and it was almost a relief to realise just how passionate he was about getting the bill right this time around. Kaidan had thought, at various times throughout the weeks, that this was all some elaborate game for David, a way of exercising his political muscle and wit. So to see how much he really cared about the omega on the street, the everyday pleb who would have to live with the results of their efforts, was rather endearing.

“What about your politician friend?” Kaidan asked, when David paused to take a breath. “What does he have to say about this?”

“He’s doing everything he can. Making backroom deals with members of his own party. Having secret talks with the opposition. Not that you heard that from me,” David added sharply, fixing them both with a sharp glare, and both Kaidan and Shepard nodded obediently. “But we’re working against some deeply ingrained ideas here. I mean, what do you think would happen to the breeding centers if every alpha suddenly had a claim to the children he sired? Or, flip that around, and what if the legislation makes it mandatory for an alpha to financially support his own children? The centers would shut down, the population would plummet. Omegas used to have children because they were part of a community who would care for both them and the child – and yes, okay, they were slaves, I’m not saying it was perfect, but historically, births were cause for celebration and the omegas who birthed the children were treasured and rewarded for it. Now, they get a small paycheck and sent home with a packet of painkillers.”

Actually, it was rather a large paycheck, thousands of credits for their service to humanity, but David had a fair point. And publicly, pregnant omegas were generally looked down upon, their pregnancy evidence that they’d dared have sex with an alpha, and god, Kaidan thought, how screwed up was that? If they didn’t mate, there would be no children at all, and then where would humanity be? 

Outside, the crowd was getting noisier, the yelling interspersed with occasional explosions. The revving of a thunderous engine made the windows rattle, and Kaidan tried to ignore the chaos going just metres from them. “So where do we go from here?” he asked. More air time wasn’t likely to produce the shift they needed, so maybe it was time for a more personal touch. Arrange to meet with the political parties directly, maybe, or start organising boycotts to make the weight of omega opinion felt?

“I’m trying to set up a debate with some members of parliament. And one or two Alliance admirals,” David replied. “I’m still hoping this can be solved via peaceful means-“ A petrol bomb exploded in the courtyard outside, shattering a window in the corner. Shepard moved to stand on Kaidan’s other side, putting himself between the windows and his omega. “Riots notwithstanding,” David added, chagrinned. “I’m all for a little public mayhem, but once we’ve made our point, we still need a little order to actually get the paper written, rather than just getting every omega in the city locked up.”

A sudden shift in the crowd outside got their attention. The tone of the shouting had become suddenly more alarmed, fear rather than anger… and then a shot rang out. So far in the chaos, no one had resorted to firearms, and Kaidan moved cautiously towards the edge of the window, keeping cover behind the wall, to see what idiot had decided that guns where going to solve anything…

And then the shouts suddenly turned to screams as another shot rang out, and another. He gasped as he saw an omega fall to the ground, dead, and craned his neck… oh, god help them all. Alliance soldiers had been called in – armed with live ammunition, rather than rubber bullets this time-

“Shepard?”

The crowd was panicking, a stampede starting as the protestors tried to flee the guns, people being crushed as they tripped and were trampled.

“Shepard, what do we do?” 

Shepard turned to David. “Tell me you have a gun tucked away somewhere?”

David raised an eyebrow, then began fiddling with his desk… a faint click was heard, then a hidden panel fell away, revealing not one, but four guns. Two pistols, an assault rifle and a sniper rifle. David took one of the pistols, while Shepard took the assault rifle and Kaidan the other pistol. “David, stay put and keep your head down. Kaidan? Cover me. I’m going to try and talk some sense into these soldiers.”

Kaidan nodded, heart in his throat as the pair of them made their way cautiously outside. Okay, so they’d done this a thousand times before, assessing the battle situation, moving from cover to cover, a well-oiled machine that knew each move by heart… but that had always been with body armor on. And more than two thermal clips each. 

And before they’d been bonded and knew that the pain of losing their partner would be like losing a part of their soul. He couldn’t lose Shepard again, not when he’d only just got him back…

But if anyone could make soldiers see reason, it was Commander Shepard. They were following orders, sent to quell the riots, but it wouldn’t be the first time Alliance personnel had defied orders to obey Shepard. And this was the man, after all, who had ended a war between the Quarians and the Geth by shouting at them. 

They made it to the edge of the police barricade without incident, the crowd thinning as the protestors fled… leaving behind injured and bleeding comrades, some people trying to help the injured, a few hard-headed rebels staying to taunt and threaten the soldiers.

And then Kaidan heard the sound he had been dreading, hoping they could get the situation under control before some fool civilian went and… Fucking hell, yes, the protestors had found guns and were returning fire.

Fuck.

Shepard stood up, got the Alliance soldiers’ attention, went to stand before the steadily advancing line. And one of the men at the front of the line suddenly paused, pulled his helmet up… A quick glance told Kaidan it was Major Coats, even as he kept his eyes on the returning crowd, praying for more time…

“Stand down, soldier,” Shepard said, firmly but calmly. 

“Shepard!” Coats said, awe in his voice. “Sir. It’s been too long.”

“This isn’t the way to deal with things,” Shepard insisted. “Shooting civilians? What the fuck happened to rubber bullets and water canon?”

“Orders from the top,” Coats said apologetically. “I didn’t realise you would be here…”

Yeah, Kaidan thought blackly. Because shooting civilians would have been totally fine, just so long as Shepard wasn’t around to witness it. Asshole…

But he was out of time, he realised, as a new wave of rioters began making their way back towards the courthouse. And they were armed with pistols, shotguns, grenades… fuck.

With a glance back at Shepard, he saw that the soldiers were looking uncertain, guns held low, several of them shifting uncomfortably… and Kaidan could only imagine the dressing down they were receiving from Shepard, his voice muffled by the shouts of the returning crowd now. If he could just buy him a few more minutes, then there was a chance this could end without any more bloodshed…

Following Shepard’s example, Kaidan broke cover, knowing that every single person in the crowd was more than familiar with his face by now. Even if they didn’t know him from the war, from his role as the second human Spectre, they would have seen him all over the extranet, in the news, fighting for a fair go for their gender.

“I appreciate your zeal for dying for your cause,” Kaidan said, just a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “But we have other options available today, so isn’t living for the cause just a little more appealing than dying for it?”

The crowd kept coming, those at the front lifting their weapons threateningly. 

Kaidan stood his ground. 

“We all know the military is in the wrong here. But my partner’s just over there, talking them down, so what say we all chill out for a minute and see if we can’t end this with everyone still alive.”

“Everyone _isn’t_ still alive,” one man shouted, pointing to a dead woman lying on the street. “Blood for blood is what I say.”

There was a shout of agreement from the crowd. Kaidan didn’t even flinch. “And what about your families? Your children, your parents, your partners? Do you think they’re going to be pleased with you coming home in a box, or do you think maybe they’d rather have their loved ones alive and breathing? There is injustice in the new laws they’re trying to draft, and yes, you have every right to be furious about it. I know I am. But shooting each other is not going to fix the laws. We have a team of lawyers and a few politicians on our side to take care of the details-“

“You’ve been saying that for weeks, you and the lawyers and the politicians, and then they found Shepard guilty, and sent out a bill that’s worse than the first one, and you want us to play nice? Well, fuck you!” The man raised his gun and pointed it at Kaidan. Kaidan brought up his own gun and aimed it right back. 

“I’m an Alliance soldier, buddy,” he said, expression grim, eyes locked on his target, perfectly willing to take him down if need be. “I’ve killed a lot of men in my time. I don’t have any problem with doing it again.”

The man wavered, the barest flicker of his eyes, the faintest tremble of his hand betraying his uncertainty…

“We’re all on the same side here,” Kaidan went on, pushing his point home. “I want the same thing you do. Equality for omegas and alphas alike. A just system of laws that gives us our own freedom without sacrificing anyone else’s. All we need to do-“

“Fuck this!” A brash young man at the edge of the crowd barged through, losing patience with the stalling and talking. He strode past Kaidan, pistol pointed his way. “We’ll have died of old age by the time the lawyers talk this to death. A little more action, is what I say!” He raised his gun and sprinted for the line of soldiers, firing recklessly, heedless of their thick armor…

A single shot downed the boy, straight between the eyes. He was dead before he hit the ground.

There was a scream from within the crowd, a soul-wrenching cry of protest that was taken up by dozens, hundreds of protestors, and the crowd surged around Kaidan, bullets flying as they attached the soldiers, who had no choice but to defend themselves. Even if they were far more likely to come out on top, given their superior weapons and armor. Shepard was swallowed by the rush of bodies around him, and Kaidan abandoned any thought of controlling this. All he knew was that he had to get to Shepard, praying he wasn’t hurt, praying they would both make it out of this alive…

He spotted him through the swarm of people, punching rioters, cursing at soldiers, and Kaidan fought to get closer. They locked eyes for a moment, Shepard looking panic-stricken as he fought to get back to Kaidan’s side. Kaidan was shoved sideways by a wave of rioters and he stumbled, fighting hard to not fall over, else he be trampled by the crowd… 

He’d just managed to regain his feet when he felt a searing pain in his shoulder, then heard a scream that made his blood run cold. Shepard. He spun around, terrified that Shepard had been shot, that they were going to be separated again… but Shepard was staring at him with absolute horror written all over his face. He shoved the soldiers surrounding him out of the way, trying to come closer… Kaidan felt his knees hit the ground, and was slightly surprised about it. Why was he kneeling down? He looked down and saw a stream of red pouring from his shoulder, the pain hitting him hard…

“Shepard…” He reached out a hand, felt his alpha catch it… and then everything went black.


	18. Together

Quiet. That’s what Kaidan noticed first. It was quiet. His ears were still ringing from the shouts and the gunfire, and the quiet was so startling he wondered for a moment if he’d gone deaf, eardrums blown out by an explosion.

But then he heard a faint rustling sound, a sigh, a shuffle, and decided he could still hear, after all. He heard a faint moan, realised it was his own, and then a warm hand was squeezing his own hand tightly. 

“Kaidan?”

“Mmm.. Shepard…” The words were slurred, and his eyes were still refusing to open, but then he felt a hand stroking his hair, lips on his forehead, and decided it didn’t matter if he couldn’t open his eyes. His alpha was here. That was all that mattered.

He moaned again, a small, appreciative sound, and pressed his face into that hand. “Shepard…”

“Right here, love,” came the reply, and Kaidan thought he heard a hitch in his alpha’s voice. That made him force his eyes open, and he winced at the light, before his gaze settled on Shepard’s face. 

He was crying. Tears ran slow tracks down his cheeks, dripping off his chin to disappear into the sheets, and Kaidan’s heart broke at the sight of it. He reached up an unsteady hand, on the side that hadn’t been shot, and clumsily wiped the tears away, only to have more fall in their place. 

“Hey,” he said softly, squeezing Shepard’s hand with his other one – the injured one, and he felt a slight sting in his shoulder at the movement. “I’m alive,” he pointed out. “You’re supposed to be happy, not sad.”

Shepard barked out a dry chuckle, wiping at his eyes again. “I am happy, you asshole,” he said. And then, “You scared the shit out of me.” The tears were coming faster all of a sudden, Shepard paying them no attention.

Kaidan longed to hug him, but didn’t think his shoulder would tolerate it, so he squeezed his hand and stroked his hair, and then tugged him down for a gentle kiss. “Sorry,” he apologised, not knowing what else to say.

The door opened then, and Dr. Chakwas poked her head in… then came in further when she saw Kaidan was awake. “Oh, thank god. You gave us all quite a scare, young man. If you hadn’t been so near the hospital in the first place…” Her face was pale, tight lines of worry around her mouth, and Kaidan felt cold at the knowledge of how close he had apparently come to dying. 

Not that he was scared of death, not for his own sake, but he couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Shepard behind. He had the faint idea to ask what was happening with the riots… but dismissed it. He didn’t actually want to know right now, and it wasn’t like he could do anything about it, anyway. They’d tried their best to end the violence, but like so much of life lately, it all seemed to have spiraled far out of control. 

“So what’s the damage?” he asked, bracing himself for the truth. 

“The bullet hit an artery,” Shepard said hoarsely. “Took forever to stop the bleeding.”

“We had to do extensive surgery on your shoulder to repair the damage,” Chakwas added. “Thankfully they just had plain, metal bullets. Anything else would have killed you.”

“I’ll try not to play war again without my armor,” Kaidan promised tiredly, feeling sleep tugging him again. But he wasn’t ready to give in yet. “What about you?” he asked, turning to Shepard. “Any injuries?”

He shook his head. “A few bruises. That’s all.”

“And the world at large has a whole new appreciation for the strength of an alpha-omega bond,” Chakwas said, sounding rather happy about it. “Shepard lost the plot a little after you were shot,” she explained, to Kaidan’s quizzical look. “Fought his way through a hundred metres of rioters, carrying you the whole way, then punched a paramedic when he said you probably wouldn’t make it. Threatened nine different doctors until they called me in and put his fist through a wall when they told him he couldn’t go into surgery with you. It took five guards to restrain him and in the end, everyone decided it would be easier to just let him in.”

“Allers caught up to me at the edge of the riot,” Shepard said, looking embarrassed. “Caught a lot of it on camera. Which isn’t actually a bad thing, given that she’s on our side, and can use the footage to make a point about the bonding, rather than to slander alphas as brutal idiots.”

“The crazy thing was… when we took you into surgery, your vitals were crashing. Blood pressure, heart rate… you stopped breathing at one point. But as soon as Shepard came in, everything just settled right down. I don’t know what the hell kind of chemistry you’ve got going on between you, but if we could bottle it, it would save dozens of lives in the ER.”

“What about David?” Kaidan asked, realising he hadn’t given the lawyer a second thought since he’d left the office. 

“He’s fine,” Shepard said quickly. “Once the real fighting broke out, he found his way out the back and hightailed it for the hospital. Despite the fancy suit and stiff accent, at the end of the day, he’s a survivor.” Kaidan had never given much thought to David’s background, had simply assumed he was an upper class brat with a sharp mind and a sassy mouth. But from Shepard’s tone, it sounded like there was an interesting backstory there. He might have to ask the omega to explain it one of these days. 

Maybe. 

If he could stand being in a room with him for more than five minutes.

“You look tired,” Chakwas said, doing a quick check of Kaidan’s vitals and making a few notes on her datapad. “I’ll leave you to get some rest. Can I bring you anything, Shepard? Food? Coffee?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Chakwas nodded and let herself out, closing the door quietly behind her.

Kaidan lay still for a moment, trying to wrap his head around everything. “Are we there yet?” he asked finally, wondering how much more of this they could possibly stand. War, then the suppressant crisis, social upheaval, arrests, jail, riots… 

“Nearly,” Shepard said, sounding far more confident than Kaidan felt, as he stroked Kaidan’s hair and tugged the blanket up a little higher for him. “There can’t possibly be much more of this, can there?”

“When this is over,” Kaidan said, feeling his eyes begin to droop with sleep, “we’re taking a vacation. Somewhere warm. Without any humans.”

“I hear Palaven is nice this time of year,” Shepard said, and Kaidan chuckled. 

“Perfect. It’s about time we saw Garrus again. Make sure he’s staying out of trouble.”

“Just like we are, right?”

“Exactly.”

 

 

Steve sat on the couch in his apartment, his back leaning against the arm, while Jonn sat tucked between his legs, curled up against him, wrapped in a blanket. He was fast asleep, having had trouble sleeping while Steve had been away, and though they’d both slept like the dead last night, by mid afternoon Jonn had been flagging. 

They’d heard the news of the new draft Act, had seen the riots on television and been in touch with their lawyers – repeated calls to Shepard and Kaidan had yielded no response – and the advice had been to stay home, sit tight, and let David and his team handle it. There was a time to push and a time to play by the rules, the lawyer had said, and after weeks of seeing him work, after the fortunate outcome on the case, Steve had come to trust the alpha. 

After they’d gotten home yesterday they’d tumbled into bed, both desperate to make love, hands and lips everywhere, whispered declarations of affection and relief flowing between them… and then Jonn had stunned him by bursting into tears just after he’d been knotted, making Steve panic that he’d done something wrong, that he had hurt the boy… but a halting, hiccupping explanation from Jonn had put his mind at ease – but made him feel all the more guilty about having been away for so long. Never mind that it hadn’t been by choice. Jonn was simply glad to have him home, he’d said, overwhelmed by the sudden change in their luck, and Steve had gathered him close, their legs tangled, his knot lodged tightly inside his lover, Jonn’s sobs hot and humid between their naked bodies. Jonn had quieted finally, and they’d lain like that until Steve had finally realised that Jonn was asleep. He’d gently eased himself out of his omega’s body and pulled a blanket over them both… but before he’d surrendered to sleep himself, he’d eased out of bed and crept to the bathroom, following up on a vague suspicion that had been rattling around in his head for days…

The eyes that stared back at him from the bathroom mirror were brown, just as they had always been, but he was determined to know the truth, and he called to mind the worry he’d felt for Jonn over the past weeks, the joy of making love with him again, the unrelenting concern that he must get some real rest, take a break and recuperate… and then Steve felt his body tremble as thin, barely there lines of gold crept in around the edges of his irises. 

So it was true. They were bonding…

He wondered how the separation would affect the process, whether it would slow it down… or perhaps speed it up, now that they were back together. 

A big part of him was delighted, his alpha gleeful at having an omega of his own… but another part was baffled. The bonding was mutual, or so everyone said. He’d heard a lot of the information that had been presented to the court on the bonding process, had read the papers from the clinic in New York, and that was the overwhelming consensus – bonding could only happen if both partners were equally in love with each other. 

But Jonn… He wasn’t in love with Steve. 

Was he? Their relationship was far from perfect, misunderstandings and arguments, Jonn pulling away sullenly and Steve fighting for patience as he constantly had to wonder what the hell his young lover wanted, since he never seemed to want to explain himself.

But if they were bonding, then Steve’s assumptions that Jonn was just in it for the sex were so far off the mark, he was in a different zip code.

He’d returned to bed, exhausted, but his mind was suddenly occupied trying to unravel this new mystery. Jonn had been reluctant to let Steve in, keeping secrets, avoiding conversations about his studies… Steve was sure he hadn’t imagined that. And they’d had a few arguments about money, Jonn embarrassed by his lack of it, Steve dismissing it as irrelevant… perhaps he should have paid more attention, he realised suddenly. Jonn was fitting in here so well, it was hard to remember that he’d grown up in the Terminus Systems, fighting for every meal, probably with nowhere to sleep, nowhere to call his own for much of the time… Money was likely to be a sore spot, with Jonn used to fending for himself, no matter how basic a lifestyle that resulted in, and having everything handed to him was probably a little insulting.

And his reluctance to argue with Steve was another point for concern. He’d often deflected their disagreements by resorting to sex, seducing Steve and dismissing the argument, which Steve had taken to be an indication of a rather shallow relationship… But what if he was wrong? 

Jonn had been a virgin up until the first time Steve had mated with him, so sex certainly wasn’t part of his survival repertoire from the Terminus Systems. But avoiding conflict certainly would have been. There was no way a skinny, poor kid could hope to survive an argument with a brutal mercenary, so he’d probably learned to either avoid conflict altogether, or appease his opponent, when it was absolutely necessary. And with their new relationship, Jonn’s new discovery of his sexuality, sex was pretty much a guaranteed way to appease what Jonn would have interpreted as an angry alpha, a danger to his survival.

He needed to have a long talk with his young lover, Steve realised, feeling his eyes get heavier, knowing sleep wouldn’t be far off. But should he mention the bonding? Or just let it take its course. Jonn wouldn’t be bonding with him if he didn’t love him, but would pointing it out make him back off, withdraw from the relationship? He was young – what if he wasn’t ready for a lifelong commitment? But on the flip side, _not_ mentioning it, now that he knew it was happening, was just as bad as lying. 

Steve had slept poorly that night, his sleep plagued with dreams of Jonn being taken from him, of an ocean with great waves trying to drown him, of a long dark tunnel that he couldn’t seem to find his way out of…

Now, nearly a full day later, he was no closer to an answer. They’d been busy during the day, making love again at dawn, then reading through the new Act, and they’d both written letters to their member of parliament, making polite but firm objections to much of the content of the Act. They’d watched the news of the riots on the television, and Steve had had a minor panic when he’d heard the news from David that Kaidan had been shot. Hasty assurances that he was going to survive had followed, but it had stirred up Steve’s fears about losing Jonn again, and that fear had kept him quiet about the bonding, even as he enticed Jonn back to the bedroom for another round of passionate sex.

Now, he was curled up asleep, Steve watching yet another report on the riots, the reception to the new draft of the Act, and then he saw Allers come onto the screen, her serious, no-nonsense style of journalism a familiar and welcome break to the sensationalism that other reporters favoured. 

He sat up straighter as he suddenly saw Shepard’s face on the screen, and he seemed to be… punching a paramedic? What the hell? Jonn stirred in his arms, and Steve forced himself to sit back, soothing the boy with a gentle hand through his hair…

The picture had frozen on an image of Shepard’s face, zooming in on his eyes – bright gold as he snarled at another paramedic, and he turned up the volume to hear what Allers was saying.

“Judge Goldman refused to listen to evidence that such a bonding is possible between alphas and omegas, but it seems that rumours of Commander Shepard’s attachment to his omega partner are, in fact, true. Note the bright gold color of his eyes – confirmation that there are distinct physical and chemical changes that occur in bonded couples, along with a marked protectiveness displayed by alphas for their omegas. Major Alenko had been shot in the riots, and Shepard’s instinctive aggression was drawn out in this case by the refusal of a paramedic to render appropriate medical assistance. Under current laws, such a refusal to treat an omega is considered a criminal offence, and we are waiting to hear whether charges will be laid…”

He turned the volume down again, not wanting to disturb Jonn. He stroked his hair, inhaled the warm scent of him… and suddenly noticed that the scent was subtly different from usual. It was richer, warmer… he bent down to smell it more closely… and recognised the same faint earthy tone he’d so often smelt on Kaidan. He’d dismissed it in the past, putting it down to the normal variations in scent between omegas… but something deeply instinctive in him told him that it was connected to the bonding. And if he’d been intending to give Jonn a way out of the attachment, it was probably far too late.


	19. Home

The week that Kaidan spent in hospital was a rather eventful one, as far as the riots went. David and some of his lawyer friends debated several members of parliament publicly, and won a lot of support for their quiet, reasonable requests in the face of the MPs’ increasingly loud and insulting denials of the possibility of decent, law-abiding relationships between alphas and omegas. 

A wave of support came in via Allers, as a result of her sensitive, thought-provoking coverage on Shepard’s reaction to Kaidan being shot, and her follow-up stories on other bonded couples. 

The parliament drafted a new version of the Self-Determination Act, including a second Act called the Rights and Protection Act of Alphas, and the reception the second time around was a lot more positive. There were still a number of issues that needed to be ironed out, but in response to the new draft, the riots faded out, with just a few thousand vocal protestors left to hold the fort while the next round of revisions were underway. 

As far as the Alliance went, they were all being remarkably quiet about the whole issue… until, late in the week, Admiral Hackett publicly announced his support for a revision of Alliance regulations as they governed the roles of serving alphas and omegas, sparking deep controversy within the ranks of the Alliance. A number of senior officers immediately distanced themselves from his comments… but several others publicly supported a review. They weren’t necessarily agreeing with Hackett’s stance on all the issues, they stated clearly, but a review was a worthwhile exercise, given the greater medical understanding of alpha and omega physiology that was emerging from various scientific centers around the world. Which was really just a socially acceptable excuse for the Alliance to say ‘Whoops, maybe we got it wrong’, without ever having to actually say so.

And throughout the whole thing, Shepard had been a most devoted nurse, Kaidan thought with a grin, as his alpha watched him savor the meal of take-away noodles he’d brought, when Kaidan had expressed his disgust with the hospital food of the day. Honestly, the only two food groups the hospital seemed to know were ‘green’ and ‘brown’, with it being anyone’s guess as to what the exact ingredients in the slop actually were.

“Keep watching me like that, and you’re going to make me blush,” Kaidan said teasingly, as Shepard’s gaze was fixed on his lips like a hawk, and he deliberately licked said lips, wondering what kind of reaction he’d get-

Shepard’s lips were on his in an instant, tenderly licking away the last traces of sauce, drawing a moan from both of them. 

“Fuck… when am I getting out of here, again?” Kaidan asked breathlessly, after letting the kiss linger.

“Tomorrow,” Shepard replied, hands fisting in the sheets to stop them wandering over Kaidan’s body. “Chakwas gave me a lecture this afternoon on not stressing your wound,” he added with a husky laugh. 

“Great,” Kaidan complained. “More reasons for you to wrap me in cotton wool. Please tell me that we are actually going to have sex once we get home? She hadn’t scared you off the idea entirely, has she?”

Shepard hesitated, and Kaidan groaned. “Fuck… really?”

“We have the alpha pro,” Shepard started, but Kaidan cut him off, putting his hand over his lover’s mouth. 

“No. I want you inside me. There’s nothing wrong with my ass, or my legs, or my back. If you want to fuss about the shoulder, there are ways to accommodate that, but by everything that’s holy, if you don’t get your knot up me within five minutes of us walking in the door, I swear I’m going to break every single one of your model ships and glue them back together upside down.”

Shepard looked horrified for a split second, then the look of shock melted into a suggestive grin. “I’d better learn to obey orders then, _Major_ ,” he drawled, making Kaidan wish they were home already. 

But two could play that game. With a suitably mollified smirk, Kaidan went back to eating his dinner… and who knew that noodles could be so utterly erotic? He made certain to lick _all_ the sauce off his fork with each mouthful, savoured the taste with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than necessary, found a long stalk of baby corn that was just the right shape for-

Shepard grabbed his fork and confiscated the corn, swallowing the mouthful quickly before returning for another heated kiss. “You’ve made your point,” he murmured against Kaidan’s lips, once they were both breathless. “Now stop teasing me, or I won’t be responsible for the mess you end up making…”

Kaidan felt his cock throb… and was ready to admit that yes, perhaps this had gone far enough. Chakwas and the nurses still had a habit of wandering in unannounced, after all, and while he was as hot for Shepard as he’d ever been, he drew the line as exhibitionism.

 

 

Home. Never had there been a more welcome idea. Kaidan climbed out of the skycar, looked up at the building that housed their modest apartment and sighed happily.

“Good to be back?” Shepard asked from his right elbow, and Kaidan winked at him. 

“Just looking forward to the ‘extra-curricular’ activities we’ve got planned.” Or that Kaidan had planned, because he still wasn’t sure whether Shepard was going to try ducking out on the basis of Kaidan’s injuries. He’d sat as close as possible to Shepard on the way home, rubbed his leg as he drove, flirted gently… but Shepard had an excellent poker face when he wanted to, and Kaidan couldn’t figure out whether the mild brush-offs had been an attempt to let him down gently, or Shepard’s own special brand of teasing.

“Oh, here, can you hold these for a sec?” Shepard asked suddenly, handing Kaidan the keys to the flat, as if he’d forgotten something in the car, and Kaidan took them, wondering what-

“Hey!” 

Shepard picked him up quite suddenly, one hand beneath his knees, the other around his waist, and proceeded to carry him up the stairs. Kaidan recovered in a moment and chuckled at the free ride. He supposed it was supposed to be sexy or romantic, but honestly, he just found it amusing. 

And quite adorable too, if he would admit it. 

Shepard paused outside their door, and Kaidan obligingly opened it with the key in his hand, then Shepard carried him over the threshold and kicked the door shut. Kaidan expected him to put him down now, but Shepard kept right on going, down the hall, into the bedroom, and deposited Kaidan gently on the bed, a warm kiss signaling the end of the ride.

“That was different,” Kaidan noted happily as he ran a hand over Shepard’s cheek, feeling the dusting of stubble there.

“Hmm… couldn’t resist,” Shepard said with a sly smile, which make Kaidan wonder just what else he had in mind for the afternoon. 

“I wonder if there’s anything else here you can’t resist,” he said suggestively… and was rewarded with a heated look traveling down his body. 

“I’m sure I could find a few choice examples,” Shepard said, then took the keys from Kaidan’s hand and set them aside, reached down and undid Kaidan’s boots, tossing them away, toed off his own, and then swung up onto the bed, pressing Kaidan back against the pillow and straddling him.

“Let me take care of you,” he murmured, peeling Kaidan’s shirt up and over his head, careful not to jostle his shoulder. 

Usually their love-making was very much a mutual endeavor, both of them enjoying exploring their partner’s bodies just as much as being on the receiving end of the pleasure, so it would be a decadent novelty to just lie back and let Shepard do all the work. Shepard’s shirt followed Kaidan’s, then Shepard was easing Kaidan’s pants off… but he left his boxers where they were. 

“Roll over,” he instructed softly, and Kaidan did without question, while Shepard rummaged around in the nightstand. He emerged with a small bottle, and Kaidan pillowed his head on his arm as he head the faint click of the cap, then the earthy smell of sandalwood. And then Shepard’s hands were on his shoulders, his back, slicking the oil over his skin, then settling in for a firm massage – always careful to avoid aggravating his wound. It was mostly healed anyway, the medigel providing ample support for rapid healing.

The massage was blissful, talented hands soothing away weeks of tension, easing tender points in his muscles, and above all, reminding him that there was nothing better in the world than having his alpha’s hands all over him, their undivided attention focused on each other.

He might have been temped to fall asleep under the sensuous treatment, but for the erection that had sent up camp between his legs. His cock was pressed into the sheets, demanding both more room and more attention, but Kaidan ignored it. There would be plenty of time for that later – because if anyone interrupted them this time, he was going to strangle them. No questions asked.

At length, Shepard slid to the side, pulled a towel out of the draw and wiped the oil off Kaidan’s back with it. “How was that?”

“Perfect,” Kaidan replied musily, wondering if he would have to move for the next part, of whether he could convince Shepard to just mount him where he lay…

“Hey, sleepy head… roll over.”

Okay, so moving was a necessary evil… but as Shepard’s lips met his, the instant he was on his back, he amended the thought. Nope, moving was totally worth it. Warm hands quickly stripped off his boxers, then did the same with Shepard’s pants and underwear, and then his lover’s mouth and hands were causing all manner of sensations that were even better than the massage. Kaidan moaned freely, letting Shepard know just what he liked, murmuring encouragements for him to ‘do that again’, or ‘harder… oh god, yes…’ until he was a puddle of lustful desire, helpless but to beg for more of his lover, his legs parting almost without him telling them to, an open invitation for Shepard to fill him…

“I don’t want to hurt your shoulder,” Shepard whispered against his lips, and Kaidan had the fleeting thought that if he backed out now, violence would result… but he needn’t have worried. Shepard’s cock was huge, throbbing, straining for him… but his concern about hurting Kaidan was real and serious. “You on top,” he said, guiding Kaidan up and over to straddle him, Shepard easing onto his back. “This way shouldn’t hurt you.”

Kaidan couldn’t remember ever feeling so wet, his ass cheeks slick as he squirmed around to get into position, his passage throbbing. Even the small movements to sit up and swing his leg over were teasing his nerves, making him need to come all the more urgently… And Shepard was right – any other position was likely to put accidental strain on his shoulder. Not that he would have complained himself, but he’d learned long ago that Shepard’s need to protect him was both irrational and compelling. And for the most part, he simply went along with it. 

Shepard reached down and positioned himself at Kaidan’s entrance, his other hand on Kaidan’s cock in light, teasing strokes. It had been a long time, and Kaidan was tight. He hissed sharply as he pressed back onto Shepard’s cock, not realising how much of a difference it made at first, but he’d learned not to push things a long time ago, so he eased up, even before Shepard could admonish him for rushing, rocking back and forth to work the thick length more gently inside himself. He came before Shepard was halfway in, his body bucking, mouth open, eyes squeezed shut, and then he felt Shepard stroking his chest, his mouth.

“Fuck, that’s sexy,” came his low growl, and Kaidan couldn’t help grinning down at him. He felt sexy, felt wanted and desirable, and it was a shock at how much he needed Shepard to want him, after so long without it. He pressed back again, needing to feel the intimacy of the knot inside him, wanting to see Shepard come, to hear his pleasure. It took longer than he wanted it to, but eventually he was seated firmly on that thick length, his eyes rolling back in his head as he came again, his cum landing on Shepard’s stomach in white ropes.

“Oh, fuck, yes…” Shepard’s hands were everywhere, his hips bucking upwards to bounce Kaidan over his cock, and Kaidan could feel his own lubricant slick against his inner thighs, coating Shepard’s groin as he fucked him.

“Fuck, it’s been so long…” Shepard said, his voice almost keening, and Kaidan was actually quite stunned that he hadn’t come already, that he’d had the patience for the massage and the extended work up, given that for Shepard, it had been weeks and weeks without any outlet at all.

He ground down harder on his cock, squeezing his passage deliberately around it, earning a startled cry from Shepard. “Oh, fuck, do that again…”

Kaidan did – it wasn’t often he could make his partner come undone, his self-control simply too great, and he reveled in it now, watching Shepard’s face tense up, his eyes screw shut, his mouth open in gasping pants as he thrust up again and again… and then he was coming, with a great, wordless shout, fingers digging into Kaidan’s thighs, his body quaking underneath Kaidan… and a rush of scent drifted up from him, rich and woodsy and musky, 100% male and alpha and strong enough to make Kaidan dizzy with it… and then he was coming again as the knot swelled, filling him completely, and god, had it really been so many weeks without this? How had he ever lasted so long?

They both ground together, wringing the last tremours out of their respective climaxes, and then Kaidan realised that they were gripping each other’s hands tightly, the gesture somehow just as intimate as the way their nether regions were linked together.

After a few long minutes of panting and catching their breath, Kaidan reached over to the night stand and grabbed a handful of tissues, wiping Shepard off. Coming all over his lover was a huge turn on for them both, but that didn’t mean the aftermath didn’t get cold and sticky. He tossed the tissues away when he was done, then leaned down, careful not to jostle the knot too much, and kissed him again. Shepard ran his hands up and down Kaidan’s thighs, a soft massage that made Kaidan think they were most likely going to do this all over again in a half hour or so. When Shepard couldn’t keep his hands to himself, it was a pretty sure sign he would be up for more. 

But it seemed there was something else on his mind, first. “Is this going to turn into crazy frantic sex like it did last time?” Shepard didn’t sound particularly thrilled about the idea… so it was a relief to finally have a real answer to the question. 

“No,” Kaidan said firmly. “No more crazy pheromones.”

“Oh?”

“I finally worked up the courage to call the clinic in New York,” Kaidan explained. And after he had, he didn’t know why he hadn’t done it sooner. The staff there were the epitome of professionalism, apparently very used to getting embarrassed calls from all sorts of people, both alphas and omegas. The omega who had answered his call had been very reassuring, listening patiently to his stuttering description of his urgent desires, and then she had asked a very simple question… and given him a very simple answer.

“It wasn’t caused by us being separated. It was because of David.”

“David? What? Why?”

“I was reacting to his pheromones. He wanted to have sex with you – whether consciously or unconsciously – and my body reacted by demanding your attention instead. Apparently it’s a very common reaction with newly bonded omegas.” It was hard to remember that they had only been bonded for a couple of months. It seemed like far longer, given all that had happened in that time.

Shepard looked chagrinned. “I’m sorry. I should have realised something was going on with him.”

This, too, was a standard response for Shepard, finding a way to blame himself for whatever was going wrong between them, and Kaidan didn’t bother trying to correct him. He just leaned down and kissed him again, chasing away fears and doubts with slow, lazy strokes of lips and tongue.

“You know I have no interest in him, right?” Shepard asked, when they came up for air. “We’re bonded. I’m yours for life.”

Kaidan made a small, hesitant noise. “Actually… that’s not technically true. There are ways to… dissolve the bond.”

Shepard looked horrified, his hands tightening around Kaidan’s legs, and Kaidan had to laugh, leaning down, stroking Shepard’s face, pressing light kisses to his lips. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, arching his back as Shepard wrapped his arms around his waist and ran warm fingers up and down his spine… and wow, this position pressed the knot against him in a new and extremely interesting way, and he paused in what he was saying to rock back and forth a few times, feeling the hot mass inside him shift, his natural lubricant slick between them, and then he came again, eyes drooping to half mast in satisfaction.

“Shit, I love that look on your face,” Shepard whispered, stroking his jaw, his hair, his ear, and Kaidan grinned, still a little breathless. 

“Don’t worry about the bonding,” he said, coming back to his previous thought. “Dissolving it can only be done very deliberately – it’s not the kind of thing you just stumble into. The clinic sent me a research paper on it, so I’ll pass you a copy to read. But the point of all that is that a newly bonded omega, chemically speaking, knows that their alpha isn’t necessarily _theirs_ , not yet, so the body goes out of its way to ensure the bond stays strong.”

Shepard sighed, not the happy, sated kind, but the tired kind, and Kaidan looked down at him in concern. “This just seems to get more and more complicated,” he complained lightly, and Kaidan quirked a wry eyebrow. 

“You saying you want out?” he asked teasingly, absolutely confident in what the answer would be-

“No! Fuck, no. You’re not going anywhere.”

Kaidan smirked, then felt the knot begin to deflate. He traced a tantalising finger down Shepard’s chest, through the light dusting of hair, over a sensitive nipple. “I’m haven’t had nearly enough of you yet,” he said huskily, squirming over the knot. He squeezed his passage around it as it shrank, drawing an appreciative moan from his partner. “How about we grab a snack, then do this all over again?”

“I couldn’t think of anything better…”


	20. The Impressive Clergyman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I had this warm and fuzzy idea for this chapter… and then I started writing Jonn, and he had all these concerns that I hadn’t realised he had before, and he gave me a stern talking to about some of the plot bunnies, and won, of course, because if you don’t listen to your characters then they stop talking to you at all, and then writers block sets in quick as a flash, so this chapter is nothing like I thought it would be. Serves me right for thinking I know where my own fic is going…

Jonn stood in the bathroom in Steve’s flat and stared at his eyes in the mirror. 

They were golden. 

He stared harder, tilting his head this way and that… and yup, his eyes really were a bright gold colour, rather than their usual brown.

Steve had called five minutes ago, telling him that he was on his way home from the shops (finally) after having been held up after he’d run into a couple of the other alphas from the clinic and they’d gotten a beer together, and then he’d mentioned a special treat he’d picked up for Jonn, delivering the news with a rather suggestive undertone to his voice, and that had left Jonn beaming, anticipating the warm welcome he was going to give his partner when he got home, and then he’d gone to the bathroom and used the toilet, and while he was washing his hands, he’d happened to look up and see… gold.

Why were his eyes gold?

He’d read the papers Kaidan had given him. Well, not all of them. There were dozens, and all of them were as long and dry as each other, but he’d also read the journal about the omega from hundred of years ago, and that had included the details about ‘flaring’, the gold in the eyes that came from a bonded alpha or omega, and so Jonn was staring at his eyes now, wondering what the hell that meant.

On the surface, it meant he had bonded with Steve. Which was something of a surprise. From everything he’d read, the bonding took months, if not years, and sure, they’d been together for a couple of months, but for a lot of that time, Steve had been in jail, which was hardly a good recipe for an intimate, lifelong commitment to form.

And besides which, Steve had only kept him around because he saw _potential_ in Jonn, as he’d so often stated, longing, pining, even, for the man he would become one day, but not for the person he was now. So all in all, Jonn was rather nonplussed.

As he watched, the gold bled out of his eyes, withdrawing from the center first, fading away until the last threads of it disappeared at the edges of his irises. He blinked, staring at his face in consternation. 

Bonded.

What the hell did that even mean? Did it make the sex better? Did it make them communicate better? Okay, so it meant being apart from each other would be difficult, but did it mean they wouldn’t argue any more? What about money? Did he now own half of Steve’s stuff, and vice versa? Not that he had much for Steve to own, but it was the principle that counted. 

Would Steve try and stop him from doing the stuff he enjoyed? Shepard had seemed mighty protective of Kaidan, and he’d wondered how that would work if they had to go fight in another part of the galaxy again, if the rachni got out of control, for example. Would Shepard let Kaidan fight? Or would he make him sit home drinking tea while Shepard did the exciting stuff?

Would Steve let him keep going to school, learning to be an engineer? What if there was another alpha in his class? Would Steve want to beat him up?

Was he supposed to hate Kaidan now? Kaidan had hated David. And Kaidan was the only other bonded omega he knew, so did that mean they were now competition for each other? Even though they each had their own alpha… or was it unbonded omegas he was supposed to hate? He really liked the other omegas from the clinic, Kenneth in particular. He was young, energetic… kind of like Jonn, really, and they’d gotten along like a house on fire.

Jonn was still standing in the bathroom staring at his eyes when he heard the front door open, and as he watched, his eyes suddenly flared a bright gold colour again, the change happening much more quickly than the slow fade out he had watched before.

“Jonn?”

“In here,” he replied without thinking, and he heard footsteps coming his way.

“What are you doing?” Steve appeared in the bathroom doorway behind him, and Jonn felt his heart pick up its pace. Interesting…

“Looking at my eyes,” Jonn replied, studying the patterns within the gold. He peered closer and could just about make out the faint hints of brown beneath the gold threads.

“Why?” Did he imagine the sudden note of caution, almost of panic in his alpha’s voice? The scent of him was suddenly stronger, richer, and Jonn was faintly aware of a change in his own scent as it took on an earthy, almost oaky depth over the usual more tangy scent.

“They’re golden.”

 

Steve stared at Jonn… then moved to stand behind him, checking his own eyes in the mirror… and sure enough, they’d flared to that familiar gold colour. He glanced at Jonn’s and saw the same colour in his.

“We’ve bonded,” Jonn said flatly… and Steve felt his heart skip a beat. His omega didn’t sound anything like pleased about the idea. For that matter, the short, clipped sentences were completely unlike his lover, long rambling diatribes that wandered from topic to topic far more common. Fuck… he must be upset if he wasn’t even going to talk Steve to death about it…

The silence was unnerving, and Steve realised that it was probably up to him to say something, to break the sudden deadlock between them, but hell if he knew what to say. 

“Yeah,” he said finally, feeling like an idiot. “We are.”

Jonn spun around to face him. “You knew about this?”

“I suspected. I didn’t think it would happen this quickly, though.”

“What does this mean?” Jonn asked, looking worried. 

Steve drew a blank. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what does it mean? If people get married, then they’ve decided to live together forever and share their property and not have sex with other people and maybe have kids, and share a bank account, and all that other stuff. And you have to put up with each other’s families, and play nice at Christmas and bitch about your partner when they don’t do the dishes. So what marriage _means_ is that people care about each other enough to enjoy the good times and work through the bad ones, unless they decide to get a divorce because the crap gets too crappy to deal with. So what does bonding _mean_?”

It was almost a relief to have the flood of words flung at him, but on the heels of the relief was a very new sort of panic. “I don’t know,” Steve admitted reluctantly. In all the hours of pondering their bond over the past week, he’d never actually asked himself that question. “I don’t know,” he repeated unhappily. It was no wonder Jonn was less than thrilled, given the weight of the questions in his mind.

“Do you love me?” Jonn demanded, and that, at least, was a question Steve could answer. 

“Yes. Absolutely. Deeply.”

Jonn stared at him as if weighing up the truth of the statement. “Then why don’t you ever seem to be happy?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper… and the question shocked Steve to the core.

“What?”

“You never just relax and spend time with me. You’re always stressing about my exams or my school work, or worrying about how Earth is rebuilding, or whether dinner is going to be ready on time, and we never do anything social together. You’ve never met any of my friends from school, and aside from the omegas from the clinic, I don’t really know any of the people you work with, and every time I even have one beer you watch me like a hawk, like you think I’m going to go and get drunk and sleep with some random frat boy, and when you tell me you like the food I’ve cooked, you really kind of overdo it. I’m not a gourmet chef, so it’s okay to tell me if the meat is burnt and the potatoes are hard. So what I mean is, if you love me, then why don’t you seem to _like_ me at all?”

Steve gaped at Jonn. He was speechless. Utterly and completely speechless, as the truth of Jonn’s words sank in. Okay, so they lived together, but they had never really merged their lives. Jonn was right, they didn’t mix with each other’s friends, they didn’t go out on weekends much… but…

“You’ve never asked if you could invite your friends over,” he pointed out, knowing that it wasn’t really the point Jonn was making, but he didn’t know where else to start. “I didn’t know you wanted me to meet them. And I don’t think you’re going to go and get drunk. But you’re young and inexperienced, and I worry about you. I’ve seen a lot of shit in this galaxy and I don’t want you getting caught up in it-“

“I survived the Terminus Systems for eighteen years without becoming a drug addict, or a prostitute,” Jonn spat at him. “I had one little mishap with a misguided idea to be a merc, and that was it. I drank, I stole, I avoided Aria and her mercs, I outwitted the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack on a daily basis. So if you think I can’t look after myself, then _fuck you_.”

Steve was expecting Jonn to storm out of the house on that vehement conclusion, and then he realised that it would actually have been easier if he had. Because Jonn, it seemed, was going nowhere, arms folded, glaring at Steve as he waited for a response, which meant that Steve actually had to come up with something to say.

As they stood there staring at each other, it became apparent that Jonn was in no hurry, eyebrows raised sardonically as he waited for Steve to respond… and Steve realised that he’d better come up with something soon. 

But what?

He did love Jonn, found him to be an utterly endearing and enticing package of energy and innocence, like a puppy… with an undertone of Doberman Pinscher. Because he had seen than inner strength, right from their first mating, when Jonn had been terrified, but knew he had been backed into a corner by nature and was determined to come out on top, no matter the hand that had been dealt to him. 

“I do like you,” he started, his tone soft, almost reverent. “I’m utterly captivated by your enthusiasm for life, and for the fact that you’ve been through as much as you have, and you still have all that energy and vibrancy. You always take hold of whatever life throws at you with both hands, and shake the best result possible out of it. I’m in awe of you. But time and time again, you’ve shown me that you don’t _trust_ me. You’re nervous all the time. You’re constantly asking me to reassure you that you’ve done the right thing, that you’ve bought the right groceries, and not spent too much money, and you want my approval for getting your homework done, and half the time I feel like I’m your father, instead of your boyfriend. It’s hard to open up to someone when they’re constantly tiptoeing around the house like they expect to be thrown out on a moment’s notice.” 

Well. That had been nothing like what he’d been meaning to say. He’d wanted to reassure Jonn, to validate his concerns, to resolve them, but instead, he’d tipped a whole load more angst into the frigid space between them.

What the hell were they supposed to do now?

But instead of being shocked, or hurt, or looking betrayed, Jonn seemed to be almost amused, though Steve couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what he’d said that could possible be funny.

“How the hell did we ever bond?” Jonn asked, a worldly, knowing look in his eyes. “Neither of us really believe in what we have here, we’re both trying to be someone we’re not, someone the other person is supposed to like better, and neither of us has been willing to say so. So why did our chemistry decide that now was the perfect time to tie us to each other for the rest of our lives?”

Steve was utterly baffled. “I have no idea,” he answered honestly. “Are you… god, are you saying you want to call it quits?” The very idea made him feel sick. But Jonn shook his head, a calm, serene sort of a smile on his face. 

“No. But I do want to find out what you really want here.”

The answer came surprisingly easily. “I want to make sure no other alpha can ever take you away from me,” Steve said, wondering where the hell that came from-

“And I want you to want to keep me. Forever.”

The pieces suddenly clicked into place. And Steve didn’t know whether to sigh in relief, or laugh at the absurdity of it all. “So you’re saying we managed to bond over our mutual desire to stop ourselves from fucking up our relationship?”

“That’s basically it.”

“And the strangest thing is that that actually makes sense.”

The slow grin creeping onto Jonn’s face was one Steve had never seen before. “You’re actually worried another alpha would want me?”

“Hell yes!” Steve said, an offended note in his voice. “Now that alpha/omega couples are coming out of the woodwork, stray alphas have started sniffing around for any unattached omega they can lay claim to. They’re everywhere. I saw three different alphas trying to pick up dates at the bar this afternoon. And one of them was one of the guys I was having a beer with!” He stepped forward, wrapping his arms lightly around Jonn’s shoulders, relieved when he accepted the embrace. “So yes, having you bonded to me is a huge relief. It means that you’re mine. And every other alpha out there knows you’re mine. And I would kill anyone who tried to take you from me.”

Jonn’s grin widened. “So that’s what it means. That I get to stay here and eat your food, and you get to beat the shit out of people.”

He was teasing him, but Steve didn’t care. “It’s not a bad place to start. But I want the rest of it, too. The awkward family Christmases and the bitching about the dishes and the shared bank account. And the children…” He didn’t know whether he was pushing too hard with that one. And children would certainly have to wait a few years, until Jonn had finished his studies, and the Earth was in a more stable position, both in terms of their infrastructure and their politics. But one day… yeah, children would be nice… 

Jonn gave him a strange, quizzical look, and Steve braced himself for a flood of awkward questions about the prospect of childbearing – would they adopt? Or would Jonn have kids of their own? And that, of course, meant going through more heats together, and he wasn’t sure whether Jonn would be up for that, never mind the whole idea of giving birth-

But Jonn, true to form, chose to hone in on a completely different idea. “Hang on… Did you just ask me to marry you?”

If only… “Marriage between alphas and omegas is still illegal. The new legislation hasn’t passed yet.”

“That’s not what I asked.” There was a soft, husky tone in Jonn’s voice that Steve had never heard before, and he looked down at his lover, suddenly paying a whole lot more attention that he had been before…

“Would you like that?” he asked hesitantly, really not sure how to interpret this…

“I’m not sure if I’ve even been asked yet,” Jonn said, a nervous reprimand in the words… and suddenly, Steve could think of nothing in the world he’d like more.

On impulse, his slid down onto one knee, taking Jonn’s hand in his. “Jonn Whitson, my bonded omega... will you marry me?”

Jonn didn’t reply for a moment, and Steve felt a sinking sensation as he wondered if he’d misunderstood what Jonn had said. And then Jonn nodded, his mouth quivering slightly. Tears gathered in his eyes. Spilled over. And Steve stood up and pulled his lover into his arms, head cradled against his shoulder, feeling his heart swell with pride and love and hope. 

“I love you,” he said softly, firmly, and he felt Jonn hug him tighter in response. “You make me feel alive in a way I didn’t know was possible.”

A minute or two later, Jonn pulled back, wiping his eyes and sniffing as he fought to get himself under control. “I love you,” he said, pulling Steve down for a hot, wet kiss. “And I want you inside me. Like, five minutes ago.” He grabbed Steve’s hand and dragged him into the bedroom. And Steve was only too happy to comply.

 

 

Shepard sat on the couch, legs spread, Kaidan sprawled over his lap with his back to Shepard’s chest in a tangle of limbs and sweat. His knot was still fully inflated inside his lover, Kaidan’s head tilted back, resting against his shoulder. They’d been in the kitchen getting a snack of toast and cold meat when Kaidan had made some stray comment about the bed at the hospital – Shepard couldn’t even remember what he’d said anymore – and they’d shared a heated look across the table, and then they’d instantly been in each other’s arms again, with the bedroom far too far away, and zero chance that they would make it that far before Shepard needed to be inside his lover again. But the couch had been conveniently close by, and had made a remarkably good second best. 

Though it would likely need a good clean, after they were through.

“Marry me,” Kaidan murmured as he lounged against Shepard’s body, and Shepard thought he had misheard. 

“What was that?”

Kaidan craned his head around, peering over his shoulder at him. “I said, ‘Marry me’.”

Shepard’s grip on his lover’s waist tightened involuntarily. “I’d love to. But that’s still illegal. The new laws haven’t passed yet.”

“They will,” Kaidan said negligently, settling back against his chest again. “So is that a yes?” he asked a moment later, when Shepard didn’t say more.

“You’re serious?”

Kaidan peered back at him again. “Despite appearances to the contrary, asking the love of your life to marry you is, in fact, a nerve-racking experience. So I’d really prefer an answer more along the lines of ‘yes’ or ‘no’, rather than questions about my sanity.”

“Fuck… yes. Kaidan… Yes. A thousand times, yes.”

“Hmm.” Kaidan chuckled quietly to himself, looking not the slightest bit nervous, and Shepard bit his shoulder lightly, half complaint, half reprimand. 

“I always thought I would be the one to ask you,” he said softly, nuzzling Kaidan’s neck. 

“Then you should have been quicker about it,” Kaidan replied, wriggling in Shepard’s lap. Shepard recognised the slight fidgeting as indicating that Kaidan wanted to come again, and he steadied his hips with firm hands. “Lean back,” he murmured into his ear, and Kaidan did, relaxing into his hold, and then Shepard flexed his hips and thighs a few times, lightly pressing his knot against Kaidan’s nerves rhythmically, drawing him towards a climax in a slow, lazy fashion. It was possible to simply press his knot in hard and make him come immediately, but a slower work up would take him higher and his climax would be harder and longer in the end…

It didn’t take long. Within thirty seconds, Kaidan was breathing hard, whimpering, hands clenching over and over… but he didn’t try to get Shepard to speed up. And Shepard felt his chest ache at the trust his lover placed in him.

When Kaidan began gasping half-formed words – ‘Shep… Gonna… Ple…’ – Shepard knew he’d pushed him far enough, and he pressed in hard, feeling Kaidan’s body buck a split second before he cried out, his passage rippling around his knot, warm wetness spurting forward and landing on Shepard’s legs.

“Fuck…” Kaidan sank back into him in a boneless heap, and Shepard wrapped his arms around his waist and mouthed the back of his neck.

“So… marriage,” he said a short while later, the word still bouncing around in his head as he tried to get used to the idea. “Where would we have the wedding?”

“What would you think of Vancouver?” Kaidan asked, reaching back to stroke a hand over Shepard’s short hair. “There’s a beautiful spot down on English Bay, near the water. A yacht club where we could have the reception. And you have to meet my mom. She’s going to kill me for getting engaged before she’s even met my boyfriend.”

Shepard snorted out a laugh. “Oh, come on. She’s seen me all over the extranet. And there was our rather public announcement about our relationship. It’s not like you’ve been hiding me under a rock.”

Kaidan shrugged. “Mom’s got some pretty traditional views. And now that Dad’s not around… I think she’s going to be even more protective of me.”

“Well that, at least, is something I can understand,” Shepard agreed. “I think your mom and I are going to get along just fine.”


	21. Epilogue 1 - David

At the tender age of 5 years old, David had realised there was something wrong with him. The boys in the school yard had picked on him, labeling him ‘omega’ and ‘knot-slut’. At that age, he didn’t even know what a knot was. He had heard of omegas, but didn’t know what that really meant – only that they were somehow bad, wrong, shameful. None of the boys would play with him… so he’d befriended some of the more outgoing girls, teaching them to play ‘Detective’ and ‘Spy Agent’, like the heroes in the cartoons he loved to watch on a Saturday morning.

Not many omegas went to school. And most of those that did attended specially run private schools that catered to the ‘slower learning style’ of omega children. David had been bored out of his mind at the omega school, already able to read the picture books and add single digits and count to twenty, while the rest of the class were learning the difference between blue and green and how to hold a coloring pencil properly. So he’d begged his parents to let him go to the government school. And, reluctantly, they had finally agreed.

At age 8, his teacher had taken a dislike to him, repeatedly accusing him of cheating as he topped each and every test the class took. He’d taken to calling David ‘Princess’ in light of his gender, and while both David and his parents thought it mightily unfair, there were no laws to make such things illegal.

At age nine, both his parents were killed in a shuttle crash. And that had sealed his fate. Moved into foster care, David learned quickly that betas – beta males, in particular – hated omegas. He’d spent five years being pushed around, insulted, clipped round the ear, shunted from school to school, and he learned to spend his free time closeted away in the library – firstly to avoid his foster parents, whoever they happened to be at the time, and secondly to keep up with his school work. Which was doubly hard to do, when you only ever spent 6 months at any given school.

Just a few weeks short of his fifteenth birthday, everything had changed. He was moved to a new house, no one wanting to keep an omega child for long, and his new foster father had taken one look at him, licked his lips, and called him a ‘good little hole’. David had learned to fight by now, having been on the receiving end of far too many schoolyard brawls, and when his foster father grabbed his ass and reached for his fly, he’d broken the man’s nose, kicked him in the balls, and marched himself out of the house, and right out of the foster care system.

A job had been the first order of the day, washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen to pay for a tiny studio flat. Never again, he’d sworn. Never again would he be the victim, the one people thought they could push around. 

And then, on his way home one night, he’d seen an omega being raped in an alley, three alphas beating the shit out of him as they fucked him, calling him a knot-slut and forcing him to beg them to fuck him some more.

And he’d realised that it wasn’t just him that had it bad. It was every omega, in every city across the world. And it was no longer a personal quest for survival. 

Now, it was a crusade for the rights of a section of humanity that most people considered little better than animals.

He’d enrolled in a correspondence course to finish high school, then applied for law school after he graduated. Laws were slowly changing, and schools now had to accept omegas, so he’d been admitted… and the first thing he’d learned was that a new bill was being debated in parliament – one that would give omegas the same rights as the other genders. They were calling it the ‘Self-Determination Bill of Omegas’. And he immediately wrote an eloquent and emphatic letter to his local member of parliament, pleading for a clause to be included in the act that made it illegal for alphas to rape omegas.

When he’d received a reply, he’d nearly dropped the letter in shock. It wasn’t the standard ‘Thank you for your opinion’ letter. It was a long, deeply thoughtful, personally addressed reply to the issues he had raised, along with the MP’s promise that he would raise the rape issue at his next party meeting.

The powerful rush of knowing that he had managed to influence the course of history, even in so small a way, was a heady feeling.

With humanity becoming more and more involved in the galactic community, David had soon seen the benefits of applying for the Alliance’s legal program. Two years out from finishing his studies, he was accepted into the Alliance, and moved to Arcturus Station. 

The difference had been striking – in the Alliance, there was a firm ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy regarding gender. No one knew that he was an omega, so, for the first time in his life, no one treated him any differently to the betas. And while the level playing field had been a huge relief… it was also a huge insult. He was the same person, had the same intellect, the same morals, the same personality as he always had. But because his gender was now hidden, he was now somehow acceptable, where as before, he had always been inferior.

The total lack of logic to it all was galling.

The newly passed Bill of Omegas was getting all sorts of media attention, and now that rape was illegal, omegas were coming forward in droves to report crimes, to accuse alphas of rape, and alphas were hotly denying it all, claiming the sex had been consensual, regardless of the injuries inflicted… and David saw his future laid out very clearly in front of him. He wanted to fight for these omegas, fight the rape charges, and win, and see justice done for their gender, for perhaps the first time in recorded history.

But in order to really understand what these omegas had been through… he decided that he needed to experience a heat himself. How else was he to sort through the tangle of hormones and skewed psychology to figure out when an omega really had been raped, and when one simply held a grudge against an alpha and wanted revenge?

But finding an alpha, when no one was allowed to know anyone else’s gender, was a tough call. And it was only due to a chance encounter, an overheard conversation because he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been, that he stumbled upon his chance. 

John Shepard. Unremarkable Private going through his training. Young. Handsome, but that was really beside the point. At this stage, all David needed was an alpha, and any willing one would do. And while in his private quarters, John had been on the phone, had happened to make an obscure reference to having a knot… 

But of course, heats and mating weren’t the sorts of things to be jumped into without some solid research. So he’d made a mental note of the identity of the one confirmed alpha in the base, and gone to speak to some of the breeding centers about what to expect. Dressed it up as research for his legal studies. But even then, he’d had to go to three different centers before he was given permission to interview some of the omegas. 

And then he’d had to talk to four different omegas before one would actually level with him. And what he’d learned had been shocking. 

Knotting, despite all the rumours and assurances to the contrary, was mandatory in a mating. Alphas’ knots swelled straight away after they climaxed. And, the omega had admitted, bright red and mumbling to the floor, it was hardly the painful humiliation that everyone said it was. Rather, it was the most sublime pleasure the human body had ever experienced…

David had walked away from the interview red faced, embarrassed, aroused, and utterly confused.

It had taken him three months to work up the courage to talk to Shepard.

And the shock written all over the man’s face had made him think he’d just made a hideous mistake. Would Shepard report him for the indiscretion? Out him as an omega? This could be the end of his career before it had even begun…

And then the man had agreed. And David had detailed his plan, the up-coming shore leave, the secluded house they could use.

When the day came, he was utterly terrified. He took Shepard to the house, stopped taking his suppressants… and then the awful wait began. How long would it take for the heat to start? What if Shepard got violent? What if the omega at the breeding centre had lied and the knotting really did hurt?

But he’d put on a brave face, glossed over his own nerves with a healthy dose of bravado, sensing that Shepard was even more nervous than he was…

And by the end of it, his entire perspective on the world had changed. How was he to spend the rest of his life without ever experiencing _that_ again?

Fast forward a little over a decade, and David could look back and laugh at how naïve he’d been. He had something of a reputation among his omega peers as being a bit of a knot-slut – a term he no longer took offence to, because they had all been knotted at least once, and all agreed that it was fantastic… but somehow they seemed to have gotten the idea that he was rather more liberal with his affections than the rest of them. 

In truth, he’d had only three partners in his entire life – Shepard, a civilian alpha he’d met after he’d graduated, and his member of parliament friend – one he had been introduced to through the same MP who had originally endorsed his letter about the Self-Determination Act. 

But according to society, three modest alpha partners still made him an ungodly piece of licentious garbage, and as he continued to fight, and win, cases for both alphas and omegas in court, he’d slowly come to realise that the real battle could not be won from inside the courtroom.

The phone call from Shepard asking him to represent him in court had been unexpected, but only because he’d never thought the man would end up in jail. And there had been no question about whether David would help him or not. Truth be told, he felt partly responsible for his current situation, having begged Shepard to run the mating clinic in the first place. And as a tantalising aside, he was eager to meet this omega that Shepard had taken such a liking to. 

He liked Kaidan. He really did. It was a rare omega who would even consider mating with an alpha, no matter the dire circumstances involved, but one who was prepared to break all manner of social conventions to actually shack up with his partner was a true gem. The man was sharp, intelligent, loyal and more than capable of looking after himself. Fuck, seeing an omega who could handle a gun like that and kick ass alongside the best in the Alliance was a validation for everything David had spent his life working for. And the fact that Kaidan appreciated just how lucky he was, was a most endearing bonus.

But despite his approval of Shepard’s partner, it was inevitable that they butt heads. 

He’d had no intention of ever making a move on Shepard – not only because, given his bonded status, it was a complete waste of time, but also because it was just… wrong. He admired the man, considered him a good friend, a powerful ally, would even admit to still being attracted to him. But breaking up relationships went firmly against his moral code, and despite his raunchy teasing, he’d never intended to follow through on any of the flirting.

But his biology was working against him, his body remembering the _very_ thorough mating he’d received, easily identifying the unique chemistry that was not only _alpha_ , but also _Shepard_. 

And so that was why he’d been taking two showers a day and wearing a little more aftershave that was strictly necessary. Fucking pheromones were a pain in the ass, some days…

But Kaidan, like any good bonded omega, was having none of it. No matter how many times David denied the attraction, Kaidan could still detect it, his biology just as attuned as any alpha’s to the threat of omega pheromones, and he’d stood up to defend his territory as both a good omega, and a good soldier should.

Unfortunately, David didn’t take kindly to being picked on – even when there was a perfectly justifiable reason for it – and his innate defensiveness, learned early on to protect himself as a child, had kicked in. No one made him a victim, not any more, and so he’d pushed back, asserting his own unwillingness to be intimidated, but also making an enemy where perhaps he should have had an ally.

But that was all water under the bridge, now. As Shepard was now out of jail, his immediate role in the alpha’s life was over, and he’d thrown all his energy into getting this damned Act sorted out – the right way, this time. And so, weeks later, after meetings and media announcements and arguments and another riot or two, David found himself sitting in the gallery of Parliament House, waiting for the final vote to be counted in the senate. With a bill of such magnitude, a private ballot had been ordered, with each member of the house able to vote according to their conscience, rather than their party politics. The legislation had gone through two more revisions since the one that had ended the first wave of riots, each time moving a little closer to true justice, to a world of real equality, rather than a patronising sugar coating to cover the deeply ingrained prejudices of people who had never known any different.

“The count has been completed,” the Speaker announced, after a timid aide handed him a datapad. “Votes in the affirmative: 96. Votes in the negative: 54. The bill is passed.”

There was a moment of silence, a collective indrawn breath… and then a great cheer rose up across the chamber, both from the sitting members – those who had voted in favor of the bill, at least, and from the spectators, crowded around David, filling every available seat and crevice they could squeeze into. The new bill was a minor work of art, granting omegas the right to keep their own children, the right to mate with and marry whomever they wished, the right to go through a heat as and when they chose – something the Alliance was going to have to deal with, given their own current, and now thoroughly illegal stance on omega heats.

But there were a range of responsibilities included as well. Bonded couples had to inform their doctor, their employer and their landlord of their bonded status, in order to avoid the alpha being accidentally provoked into defending their omega. In order to charge an alpha with rape, an omega about to go into heat had to arrange secure accommodation, and be inside, behind a locked door, at least three hours before the heat started. If they failed to do so, then the alpha was not to be held responsible for their actions. Alphas were afforded the legal right to claim any child they sired, though to do so would required a lengthy court process, and breeding centers could require an alpha to waive any rights to their children before accepting a contract with one. They were allowed to mate with omegas, but banned from mating with betas, though they were allowed to marry someone of either gender, and the company that produced the Alpha Solo Pro had been politely asked to continue production, and if possible, to increase it.

Ignoring the excitement around him, David looked down across the chamber, catching the eye of his alpha friend, sitting in one of the benches looking exhausted, too tired even to celebrate this momentous win. Eric had been working nonstop for weeks, both in public and behind closed doors, to secure this very outcome… and David gave him the slightest nod. And got a subtle, but very pleased smile in response. 

It was the oddest and most difficult of relationships, but they’d managed to make it work somehow for the past four years. They saw each other in public quite regularly, given their respective careers, but in private only once, maybe twice a year, both of them knowing that any suspicion about their affair would end both their careers immediately. 

When they did get together, they shared intimate, but brief liaisons, passionate sex, and lots of it, but under the most discrete of circumstances. 

So this bill was momentous on a personal level, as well as a public one. Because it made it illegal to sack, defame, slander or otherwise vilify either an alpha or an omega for entering into a relationship with a member of the opposite gender.

Freedom, David thought. That’s what this bill was about. The freedom to love whomever he chose, and to stand on a soapbox and shout his affection to the world.

Just like Shepard had done all those months ago, in front of the entire world, the entire galaxy.

No wonder Kaidan loved him so much.

David packed up his things and started weaving his way through the ecstatic crowd. This afternoon he’d head back to his office, make a few media statements, shake hands with some colleagues who’d helped him make this day a reality.

And tonight… tonight he’d go over to Eric’s house, taking his own car, instead of a neighbour’s, park out the front, instead of down the street, and make love to the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. 

And finally, after so many years of fighting, he was able to do it all without looking over his shoulder, worrying about who else was going to know about it.


	22. Epilogue 2 - Steve and Jonn

Steve was nervous. And Jonn was laughing at him, which was not helping. He fidgeted. He paced. He looked at the clock on the wall of the docking bay for the umpteenth time. The ship bringing Jonn’s brother to earth had docked twenty minutes ago, but getting through customs could take anything up to an hour.

“If you’re this bad now, how the hell are you going to get through our wedding day?” Jonn asked… and the sudden reminder of what they would be doing in just three days time was not helping with the nerves. 

“Bloody hell… I’m going to take a strong sedative and wash it down with a bottle of vodka.”

Jonn wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist and grinned up at him. “And if you’re all sedated and drunk, how am I supposed to have my wicked way with you?”

Darn. A rather obvious downside to that particular plan… “Okay, so maybe you’ll just have to remind me to keep breathing, and hope I don’t pass out in the middle of the ceremony.”

“I can do that,” Jonn said, leaning up to kiss Steve lightly…

“Hey, Jonn.”

Jonn ripped himself out of Steve’s arms and spun around, eyes wide… “Marcus!” He launched himself at the slightly taller, slightly older boy, hugging him fiercely, and despite the lack of family resemblance, there was no doubting that this was Jonn’s adopted brother. He had the same wary nervousness, the same lean, lanky build that came of a hungry childhood… and he was regarding Steve like something he would scrape off the bottom of his shoe.

He hugged Jonn back with no particular enthusiasm, keeping his eyes on Steve, even ignoring his brother when he pulled back and grabbed Marcus’s bag for him. “This is Steve,” Jonn said unnecessarily. “My fiancé.”

Jonn had told him all about Marcus, and the boy was pretty much exactly what Steve had been expecting. When Jonn had first written to tell his brother – who was currently living on a small colony on the border of the Attican Traverse – that he was marrying an alpha, the reply had been… unflattering. Marcus had been raped some years back by an alpha, having gone through his heat without being able to access suppressants, and he’d ended up with a broken leg and a scared psyche as a result. In some ways it was a relief that his dislike of Steve was entirely due to his gender, as it was easier to brush it off as nothing personal. But even so, having the brother of his soon-to-be-husband hating his very existence was bound to make life uncomfortable. For both of them. 

“It’s good to meet you,” Steve said, offering his hand… which Marcus predictably ignored. 

“Whatever,” he said dismissively, following Jonn towards their skycar. 

Steve didn’t follow.

Jonn noticed just a few steps later that his alpha wasn’t with him, and came to a stop, looking back quizzically. But Steve’s attention was on Marcus.

“Is that it, then?” he asked gently. He didn’t want to antagonise the boy… but starting out on such bad terms wasn’t going to make anything easier down the track. “You take one look at me and hate me on sight?”

Marcus looked Steve up and down… and shrugged. And Steve recognised a lot of the same behaviours in him that Jonn had had to begin with. Fear, covered by defiance. A sense of detachment, as if ignoring an issue could make it go away. The only real difference was that, while Jonn could have talked the ear off a stone statue, Marcus seemed inclined to say nothing at all.

“Why did you come here?” Steve asked, not willing to let this one go. Whether Marcus liked it or not, he was going to be a part of Jonn’s life now. Even without the wedding, they were already bonded. The marriage was more of a formality in the eyes of the law now, the bond recognised as a legal union. 

“Where the fuck do you get off telling me what to do?” Marcus spat at him.

“I’m not telling you what to do. I’m asking you a question. Because if you’re determined to hate any alpha partner of Jonn’s then it seems an awfully long way to come when you could have told him he was an idiot from across the galaxy and saved yourself the trouble of having to be in the same room as me.”

Jonn had said that this was going to go badly, had warned Steve that Marcus was stubbornly refusing to accept Jonn’s decision to pair up with an alpha, but Steve had clung to the hope that he and Jonn’s only living family could find some common ground to stand on. Hence the nerves, when they’d been waiting for Marcus to arrive.

In response to his calm, quiet challenge, Marcus gave him a look that somehow seemed to go straight through him. “I don’t owe you an explanation,” he said, just as softly, then turned and headed for the exit. 

And Steve watched him go, utterly baffled. He’d been wrong. Marcus was nothing like Jonn. Jonn had been brash and overconfident on the outside, nervous on the inside. Marcus was the opposite. On the outside, he was a mess of nervous twitches, eyes never staying still, hands fiddling with whatever was within reach. But inside… inside he had a core of steel that simply refused to budge when the world tried to push him around.

This was going to be one hell of an interesting few days.

 

The grilling started in the car. Steve was driving, and Jonn had offered Marcus the passenger seat. Steve had expected him to turn it down and sit in the back to avoid him, but he’d accepted, and the instant they were out of the Air Base, he started up with the questions. How old was Steve? When had he met Jonn? When did they start dating? When did they move in together? How much did Steve earn? What was his job? How old had he been when he’d become a pilot?

And then they moved on to more difficult questions. Had Steve slept with other omegas? Had he ever hurt one of them while he was mating with them?

Steve answered some questions, dodged others, and flatly refused to answer a few of them. And all the while, Jonn sat quietly in the back seat, watching proceedings with an unusual quietness. 

And then Marcus started with the questions about Steve and Jonn’s intimate relationship. And Steve simply put his foot down.

“I’m not going to discuss my sex life with you,” he said firmly, keeping his eyes on the controls. 

Marcus went silent, glaring out the window. The rest of the ride passed in tense silence.

 

Marcus was staying with Steve and Jonn, in their spare bedroom. Aware of the tense atmosphere, but choosing not to comment on it for the moment, Jonn showed his brother to his room, showed him the bathroom and where he could find a towel, while Steve regrouped in the kitchen. The alpha wanted to get alone with Marcus – even wanted to like him, admiring his inner strength, and sympathizing with the rough deal that had forged it. But he didn’t have a clue how to get through to him. Why he’d even come was a mystery. He could have told Jonn by letter or comm link that he disapproved of the marriage. Steve wasn’t quite sure what they’d have done, under those circumstances, whether Jonn would have wanted to back out, or would have ultimately ignored his brother’s protests. Steve didn’t like the idea that he could be coming between the two brothers. 

But Marcus had made the effort to come here… and then set about being an unpleasant about it as possible. 

Months of getting to know Jonn made Steve suspect that there were deeper issues at work, some ulterior motive that was driving Marcus, but he didn’t know what to do about it.

Few minutes later, Jonn came back from showing Marcus around, and suggested they get take-out for dinner. And Steve immediately volunteered to go and get it. Maybe the two brothers just needed some time to catch up, explain things, and a truce could be reached…

But Jonn killed that idea when he looked Steve in the eye and told him that he would go get the food. A month ago, Steve might have actually believed that Jonn was unaware of how bad an idea that was, believing that the energetic boy often blustered through things without thinking them through. Now, though, he’d seen a much deeper, more deliberate side to Jonn, and that one stern look told Steve that his partner knew exactly what was going on, and that there was a good reason for him leaving Steve and his brother alone together.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Nothing too spicy. The curry we got last time killed a lot of my taste buds.” He handed over his credit chit, watched Jonn saunter out the door… and waited.

Not thirty second later, Marcus appeared in the kitchen doorway. They regarded each other warily for a long moment, sizing each other up. Steve wanted to let the younger man speak first, to get whatever it was off his chest…

“Why are you marrying Jonn?”

Steve considered the question seriously, not at all offended by the abruptness of it, wanting to give an honest answer without glossing over anything or disrespecting the apparent obviousness of the question.

“Because I love him,” he said finally. “I admire him. His courage, his enthusiasm, his determination. He makes me look at life differently. And I like that.”

Marcus nodded. And then smirked, as if Steve had just confirmed something terrible that he’d suspected all along. “That has got to be the most selfish answer to that question that I’ve ever heard.”

Steve was speechless. Say what? “Excuse me?”

“You want to keep him in your life because he makes it better.”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with that? Whatever the fuck happened to making _his_ life better? It would be nice to hear that you want to marry him because you believe you can make him happy, because you share interests and enrich each other’s lives, because you think him living in a nice apartment and going to a good school is better than living in a slum eating garbage. Did you ever stop to think about that? Whether Jonn marrying you was going to make life better for him?”

Steve fought the urge to blurt out the first answer that came to mind. “I’ve thought about that a lot,” he said, pushing down the automatic anger at having his integrity questioned. “And yes, I think I can provide a lot of things that make life easier for him. But that’s not for me to decide. Jonn doesn’t want to be pampered. He wants to work, he wants to look after himself and earn a living, He’s said so repeatedly. So I’m not going to patronize him by thinking that a roof over his head and food on his plate makes everything okay. I’m not perfect. Neither is he. But he’s capable of making up his own mind about whether he wants to be here or not.”

Marcus gave the words the same careful consideration that Steve had, not rushing to answer back, though his eyes narrowed and his jaw got tighter. “Is that what happened when you mated with him, during his heat?”

Steve wasn’t really sure how much Jonn had told Marcus about the heat. He’d mentioned that he’d sent a letter explaining how they’d met, but that could be covered in anything from one sentence, to twelve pages.

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“Did Jonn come to you and ask you to mate with him, so he didn’t have to endure the pain… or did you decide you knew better than him, and coerced him into it?”

Fuck … the answer to that question was going to kill any chance he had of making peace with this young man… but even so, Steve knew he had to stick to the truth. “Jonn came to the clinic asking for help. But he wanted more suppressants. We didn’t have any. So yes, me and the other staff tried to talk him into what we believed to be the next best option for him. Not because we thought we knew better than him, but because we didn’t have any other options.”

“Such pretty lies we tell ourselves. So he agreed to go into heat, signed the forms, and then you went at him like an animal in rutt? Because you thought that was the best thing for him. Did you even give him the chance to back out? What if you’d hurt him? What if he didn’t like it? Or did you just pin him down and fuck him raw and tell him it was for his own good?”

Steve looked at the boy like he’d grown a second head. “Do you really think Jonn would be here now, would be living with me, about to fucking _marry_ me, if I’d hurt him? He’s not the type to let people just walk all over him.” Not that he was terribly good at standing up for himself either. But in this case, Steve had no fears about the state of play. If he’d hurt Jonn, the boy would simply have run away, a far more fitting behaviour for his nervous psyche than confrontation. 

But he hadn’t run. Rather, he was scared of being kicked out, when all he wanted was to stay.

“Jonn’s a survivor,” Marcus said blackly. “He’s put up with a hell of a lot worse than a cosy apartment and a randy alpha to keep himself alive.”

And suddenly, Steve saw Marcus’s dislike of him from a whole different perspective. It was nothing at all to do with his own rape, his own fear and any grudge he held against alphas in general. No, his concern was all about Jonn. As the older brother, he probably had a strong sense of duty towards his family – Jonn had certainly displayed a firm loyalty to his brother in the discussions leading up to this visit. But if that was the case, then Steve would have to level with him about what had happened during Jonn’s heat. 

“What’s Jonn told you already?” Steve asked cautiously, not wanting to make things worse, but needing a little background to put all this in context.

“Nothing. He said went to a clinic at the Alliance base and they gave him an alpha to see him through it, and that he wasn’t hurt during any of it. And I don’t believe any of that for a second.”

“Then maybe you should be asking Jonn for the details. I’m happy to explain it all – and it was far more respectful and cautious than that short description makes it sound – but if there’s a reason why Jonn didn’t want you to know about it, then I’m going to respect his wishes.”

Marcus looked at him oddly. “You don’t have any siblings, do you?”

What did that have to do with anything? “No.”

Marcus nodded, as if something suddenly made sense. “I was raped. I’m sure you know that by now.” Steve nodded, sure that Marcus didn’t want him to rehash any of the details…

“So how the hell is a good and caring brother supposed to front up and tell me that he’s deliberately chosen to mate with an alpha? He watched me recover in the hospital. He listened to me cry myself to sleep at night – the nights I actually slept at all. He saw the bruises. He heard the nightmares. He says he came out of the mating okay, but I don’t know what to believe, because if it went badly, he’s never going to make me relive my own version of that hell, and if it went well, he’s never going to rub it in my face that he enjoyed something that… well, something like that. So I’m going to ask you again. What the fuck did you do to my brother when he went into heat?”

Wow… okay, so maybe the boy had a point. “He did get the chance to back out,” Steve said, knowing that he had to start there, that Marcus would never forgive him if he believed Jonn had been forced into anything. “He was terrified about going through the heat, but he was a virgin, and the whole idea of sex scared him, not just the heat itself. So he and I… I guess you could say we had a trial run, before hand.” Steve went on, told Marcus about Jonn’s reaction to that first round of sex, his eager agreement to proceed with the heat and the mating, and the inkling Steve had had at the end of it that Jonn’s interest in him was as more than just a bed companion. It was that that had led him to ask the boy out to coffee. If he’d thought the attraction was on his side alone, he’d never have acted on it, their relationship blurry enough as it was, given the age gap and Steve’s role in the clinic – an omega in his position would have been called a slut, or a hooker, as some of the nicer descriptions, but the alphas had somehow gotten away with mating with multiple partners with their reputations intact. It didn’t make sense and it certainly wasn’t fair, but there it was.

But Jonn had said yes, despite Steve’s doubts, and the rest, as they say, was history. “So in answer to your original questions,” Steve concluded, some minutes later, “yes, he knew what he was getting himself in for, he had the chance to change his mind before we got in too deep, and I have every reason to believe that… well, that he thoroughly enjoyed it.” 

The words were equal parts cruelty and kindness. On the one hand, telling Marcus that his brother _enjoyed_ the very thing that had caused him so much pain was like poking an open wound. But on the other hand, it let him relax in the knowledge that his brother was truly happy, safe, cared for, and that he hadn’t been harmed. And that peace of mind, in Steve’s opinion, was worth the sting the words would cause.

Marcus fell silent, staring at the floor as he mulled over what Steve had said. Not wanting to interrupt, but equally uncomfortable with just standing there staring at him, Steve went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. Offered one to Marcus, and got a nod in reply. And so they stood in the kitchen, silently drinking beer, both lost in their own thoughts.

 

When Jonn got back from the Thai restaurant, a little over half an hour after he’d left, he paused outside the door, not at all sure what he was about to walk into. He hoped the two men had managed to talk things out, but it was equally likely that they’d argued and ended up coming to blows. His brother had always had a protective streak where Jonn was concerned, and he wouldn’t hesitate throw down with Steve, if he thought it necessary.

But when he finally walked into the kitchen, the sight before him was more shockingly unexpected than anything he had imagined. Steve and Marcus were both standing in the kitchen, drinking beer… and _laughing_ with each other. Steve saw him first, and moved to take the food from his suddenly limp hand. “Hey, Jonn. Get everything?” He kissed him lightly and went to get cutlery from the drawer.

“Yeah,” Jonn said, glancing quizzically at his brother. Marcus glanced at Steve, still distracted with the food, and gave Jonn a tiny shrug of one shoulder, and a wry smirk. And Jonn grinned. He would probably never know the details of what had gone on in his absence, but having the two most important men in his life on speaking terms… it was a great feeling.

 

“I now pronounce you husband and husband,” Admiral Hackett declared, after Jonn and Steve had exchanged rings and said their vows. Jonn felt himself blush bright red as Steve leaned forward and kissed him passionately, right in front of the entire crowd, and a wave of applause filled the hall. 

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled them both back to reality, and Jonn glanced back to see Marcus, looking dashing in a tailored suit, glaring at him pointedly. And then it was Steve’s turn to blush, having gotten a little carried away with the moment.

The reception was a blur for Jonn. He remembered meeting a man called James Vega, one of Steve’s closest workmates, and a mountain of muscle, with a wicked sense of humour. And he had a long chat with someone called Adams about engineering, and which field Jonn thought he would specialize in. And the man had offered him a tour of the famous Normandy, once he got back from his honeymoon. All he had to do was get Steve to set up a time and place, and he would be given access to the innards of one of the most advanced ships in the Alliance. His friends at school would be so jealous.

Speaking of his friends, a handful of them had come to the wedding – they had tried to keep the guest list small, but these things tended to overspill their bounds – and Steve had gone out of his way to speak to each of them, promising to have a few of them over for dinner once they got back and everything settled down.

Shepard and Kaidan had come, of course. They’d originally considered a joint wedding between the four of them, until Shepard had pointed out that his celebrity status was likely to steal the thunder of the day for Jonn and Steve, and so they’d drawn straws instead, to see which couple got to get married first. Jonn had picked the winning straw, and had immediately given Steve a full body hug and declared he wanted to get married _tomorrow_.

And okay, it hadn’t happened quite that quickly, but the measly six weeks to plan the entire thing had flown by, and he’d almost felt sorry for Kaidan and Shepard, who had to wait another six weeks, on account of giving Steve and Jonn time to get back from their holiday and settle in at home before the next wave of chaos began.

The evening seemed to fly past in a mere moment, Jonn’s jaw aching from smiling so much, Allers there to report on one of the first weddings between an alpha and an omega – they had to feed the public a steady diet of happy stories, she’d said, now that they’d gotten the legislation through – and since they all owed her more than a few favours for having done such a spectacular job of the media coverage throughout the campaigning, a few exclusive photos and quotes from the wedding seemed a small price to pay. Finally, much earlier than he’d expected, having lost track of the time, Steve was tugging him away from dancing with one of his class mates and whispering in his ear that it was time to go.

And Jonn might actually have been disappointed to leave, but for the knowledge of what they were going to be doing once they got to their hotel. They were staying in a luxury suite for the night, then heading for the south coast of France for a two week honeymoon. The shuttle would pick them up at midday tomorrow, leaving plenty of time for *ahem* other activities, both tonight and tomorrow morning.

Jonn climbed into the sky car that they’d hired, thanking the driver before Steve slid the privacy panel up, then waved to the crowd of their friends who were waiting to see them off. The sky car lifted into the air and they were off, the low thrum of the engine soothing Jonn as he settled against Steve’s shoulder, stifling a yawn as the excitement of the day caught up with him…

 

Jonn murmured a faint protest as he felt himself being moved. He opened his eyes blearily and realised that Steve was carrying him, standing in an opulent elevator, a poker-faced attendant by the door. He made a faint sound of surprise, but Steve shushed him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “It’s okay. We’re nearly there.” 

The elevator dinged and the attendant led them down a corridor to their room, opening the door and carrying their luggage inside. Jonn was fighting to stay awake – this was his wedding night, damn it – but when Steve put him down gently on the bed, he couldn’t help lying back for just a moment, the pillow decadently comfortable beneath his head, and he promised himself he’d get up in just a minute, splash some water on his face and give Steve a night to remember…

 

Keeping the lights low, Steve tipped the attendant and locked the door behind him, then went back to the bedroom, shedding his jacket as he went. As he’d expected, Jonn was sound asleep, curled up on top of the blankets, and he wondered whether he should attempt to undress the man, or just leave him as he was. But sleeping in a suit was never going to be very comfortable, so he started by taking off Jonn’s shoes, cuff links, bow tie, then very, very gently eased his arms out of his sleeves. Jonn stirred several times throughout the process, wriggling helpfully when Steve went to remove his pants, and he had to wonder whether his soft ministrations were going to show up in Jonn’s dreams as some lustful fantasy.

Finally he was finished, Jonn naked except for his underwear, and he covered him with the blankets and stripped his own clothes off.

But he wasn’t quite tired enough to go to sleep yet – a product more of the adrenaline of the day, rather than any particular stamina, the wedding having exhausted him almost as much as it had Jonn – so he sat in a chair near the bed and simply watched his lover sleep. 

He wasn’t the slightest bit disappointed about not being able to make love tonight. Jonn was exhausted, and Marcus’s words had hit home – his job, both as a husband, and as an alpha, was to see to his omega’s wellbeing. And if he needed sleep, then Steve wasn’t about to complain. 

And so he watched Jonn breathe in and out, traced the lines of his face with his eyes, felt himself smile as Jonn scrunched his face up and batted clumsily at an itch on his ear. 

And when he finally climbed into bed a half hour later, he felt like his heart was full to bursting with joy and hope and love. Such an unlikely partner he had been given, a most unexpected man, out of most unexpected circumstances. And he promised himself he was going to do everything in his power to cherish and protect what he had been given for the rest of his life.

 

 

Jonn woke up with a raging hard-on and the insistent feeling that there was something important he was supposed to be doing. He rolled over in bed and felt Steve’s arms tighten around him, and he settled into his alpha’s side, happy and content, but sure there was something he was missing.

With a sigh, he prised his eyes open… and then shot up in bed, gaping around at the decadent hotel suite. Fuck… he’d fallen asleep. He glanced over at Steve, seeing his eyes were open, and immediately launched into an apology. “I’m so sorry. You could have woken me up. I didn’t mean to sleep through the whole night, I thought it would just be a short nap, and- Mmmphm!”

Steve had tackled him, pinning him to the mattress and planting his lips firmly over Jonn’s. 

The lips eased up, turning from demanding to tender, then to sensuous and erotic, and Jonn found himself kissing his lover back, parting his legs automatically as a thick, heavy erection was rubbed against his groin…

Steve pulled back, smirking down at him with a predatory glint in his eyes. “Don’t panic,” he said amiably. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I fell asleep,” Jonn pointed out, mortified as his own negligence.

“I know. I was there. And for the record, it was really quite adorable.”

“But we were supposed to have sex.” Jonn couldn’t understand why Steve wasn’t upset. Or at least a little disappointed. Annoyed? Impatient?

But Steve simply settled his body down over Jonn’s like a living blanket and stroked his face tenderly. “We were _supposed_ to enjoy our wedding night,” Steve corrected lightly, “in whatever manner we saw fit. And I did. I’ve never really just sat and watched you sleep before. You do this really cute thing where you wrinkle your nose.” He leaned forward and brushed his nose against Jonn’s. “Besides, we’re not being picked up until midday. And it’s only 7 am at the moment.” He ran a heated look down Jonn’s chest. “What on earth shall we do with all that spare time?”

Getting down to some serious lovemaking was high on the list… but Jonn wanted this to be extra special and had given it quite a bit of thought over the weeks leading up to the wedding. “We should order room service for breakfast and take a bath,” he said, smirking when it was clear that he’d surprised his alpha.

“A bath?”

“The brochure said there was a Jacuzzi in the suite. So yes, a bath.” The way he said it this time was ripe with suggestion, and Steve raised an eyebrow as he caught on.

“Oh. A bath it is, then.” He got up and went to fetch the breakfast menu. “What do you want to eat?”

“The works. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, tomato… the whole deal.” Jonn wriggled out of his boxer shorts, realising that he still had them on, and then wondering briefly how the hell Steve had managed to undress him last night, and climbed out of bed to go start the water running. He palmed his own throbbing cock as he went, glanced over his shoulder to check whether Steve had noticed… and saw him frozen in indecision, one hand poised over the hotel’s internal phone. No doubt he was torn between ordering breakfast and chasing his omega into the bathroom to follow up on that enticing stroking action…

Jonn just smiled to himself, kept going into the bathroom, and was it his fault if his ass swayed a little more than usual as he went? He heard Steve moan softly, then the water running drowned out any other sounds. 

By the time the food arrived, the bath was full and Jonn had found a bottle of scented bubbles. It was a manly scent though, nothing floral and girly, so he’d shrugged and added some to the water. He heard a knock at the door, heard Steve exchanging words with the room service attendant, then the door closed. 

“Just to clarify… you actually want to eat breakfast in the bath?”

“Yup,” Jonn said happily. He’d found a low table and taken it into the bathroom, setting it beside the head of the bath to put the food on, and he winked as he set everything out. Coffee, complementary strawberries, the hot food and the glasses of orange juice. And then he held his hand out to Steve. “Would you do me the honor of joining me in the bath?”

Steve grinned and tossed away the bathrobe he’d put on to answer the door. Took Jonn’s hand and stepped into the water. Paused to kiss his lover once he joined him, then sat down slowly, the hot water a blissful sensation after the hectic day before, and Jonn settled down between his legs, easing back to lie against him.

Just as he’d planned, the food was at the perfect height and angle to allow them to eat a leisurely breakfast, and Jonn started the next phase of his plan by feeding choice morsels to Steve. The man picked up on the game quickly, feeding Jonn in turn, and as the meal progressed, Jonn made sure to run an occasional hand down Steve’s thigh to his hip, made a point of occasionally wriggling to get into a more comfortable position, and whoops, was that making his back rub against Steve’s erection? He craned his head around to kiss Steve’s jaw, nibbled his fingers when he fed him the strawberries, and generally did everything in his power to turn the bath into one long bout of foreplay.

And it was working remarkably well. By the end of the meal, Steve couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He was running tender strokes up and down Jonn’s arms, teasing his legs with his feet, thrusting against his ass every now and then in a way that seemed almost involuntary… and Jonn contemplated whether to just lie back and enjoy the moment, or hasten things along…

“I want you,” Steve murmured into his ear, his voice sounding none too steady, and that sealed the deal. 

“Then we should get back to bed,” Jonn replied, easing up out of the water… only to be pulled back down again, landing with a splash in Steve’s arms, their legs tangled, Steve’s lips urgent against his own. 

“No more teasing,” he demanded, his breath coming fast. “I need you. You’re driving me crazy…”

Which was exactly where Jonn wanted him. He nodded his agreement, then got out of the bath, grabbing a towel on the way. He wasn’t going to bother drying off, but he didn’t think the hotel staff would appreciate them getting the bed wet, so he spread the towel out over the sheets, then bounded up into the centre of the bed, turning over onto his back, legs spread in open invitation.

Steve crawled onto the bed after him, cock huge and throbbing, and Jonn imagined it was slightly larger than usual… which, given the long, slow work up he’d gotten, wasn’t all that surprising. Steve paused, his cock poised over Jonn’s groin, and he seemed to be fighting for control. “I’m not going to last long,” he said, almost guiltily, but Jonn just smiled up at him, feeling surprisingly calm and serene, despite the throbbing in his own erection. 

“I’m here for you,” he said softly. “Whatever you need.”

Steve dropping his head to Jonn’s shoulder and he heard a muffled sort of moan. If there were words in it, he couldn’t make them out, but he could feel his alpha shaking. Steve reached down and positioned himself at Jonn’s entrance, then thrust home, a long, slow, slick glide, and the instant he was inside fully he came, body tensing, hips jerking roughly, letting out a harsh moan against Jonn’s skin as the hot pulses inside his body seemed to go on and on… and then the knot swelled, locking them together, even as the last waves of Steve’s orgasm were still working their way out. Jonn clung to his shoulders, letting his head fall back in pleasure as the knot pressed against him in all the right places, and when Steve’s hips jerked forward again, Jonn got his own round of unexpected pleasure, his orgasm bursting from him, even his toes tingling as the electric sparks shot out from his groin.

Long minutes later, they were lying in a tangled heap, Jonn’s leg up over Steve’s hip, one of his arms cradling Steve’s head while his other arm was laced together with Steve’s.

His alpha was lying on top on him, sated and relaxed in a way he had rarely seen him, and he felt a pleased, satisfied smile settle on his lips as he stroked lazy fingers over his hair. Steve lifted his head, saw Jonn watching him… and slithered a little higher on his body, leaning in to kiss him, tongue working magic against Jonn’s… and then, quite suddenly, he rocked his hips forward and pressed his knot in deep, making Jonn cry out as his climax took him by surprise. He was just coming down from the peak, a grin on his face, when Steve did it again, and as quickly as that, Jonn came again. He felt his body shuddering with the waves of pleasure, his legs quaking, his hips jerking involuntarily, which of course jostled the knot inside him and drew out the orgasm a little longer and harder, and finally, at the end of it, he sagged back onto the mattress, breath panting out of him in startled little huffs, utterly drained of all energy.

“Okay?” Steve asked him smugly, stroking his cheek.

Jonn laughed, unable to express his happiness any other way. “Awesome,” he replied, once he’d caught his breath enough to speak. “Absolutely perfect.”

“Hmm,” Steve agreed, tracing a fingertip lightly over Jonn’s lips, his expression sated and serene. “Absolutely perfect.” He smiled, a sly, mysterious expression as his gaze wandered over his lover’s face. “I couldn’t agree more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, um... I have to confess, I haven't even started writing Kaidan and Shepard's epilogue yet, cos they're being really coy about how they spent their wedding and honeymoon, and the next few days are all tied up with Xmas and family stuff, so I have no idea when I'm going to get the last chapter out. I know it's horribly cruel to leave you all hanging like this. Sorry. But rest assured, it is coming. Eventually.


	23. Epilogue 3 - Kaidan and Shepard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sigh* Shepard finally let me in on what he had planned for him and Kaidan. And I just died from the romance of it all. He knows his omega so very well… *tear*

Kaidan fought to hold back tears as he stood before Admiral Hackett in the wide park, sun beaming down on them, Shepard’s hands held tightly in his own. He was shaking, knew that Shepard could feel it, felt the reassuring squeeze his alpha gave him as Hackett recited the meaning of exchanging rings, the responsibilities entailed therein. 

That Hackett had agreed to marry them at all was a small miracle. After he’d performed the ceremony for Steve and Jonn, HQ had called him in for a ‘chat’. The Alliance’s stance on alpha/omega relationships was still under review, though everyone knew they had to give significant ground to remain on the right side of the new laws, but even so, they were far from happy about that _very_ public endorsement of an alpha/ omega marriage. And when Hackett had announced that he was going to do the same for Shepard and Kaidan, he’d apparently been threatened with suspension.

And he’d promptly threatened the Alliance with charges of defamation, based on what it had said about Shepard and Kaidan’s relationship.

Kaidan didn’t know exactly what had been said as a result of that, but the fact that Hackett was here performing the ceremony for them spoke volumes. 

“Shepard?” Hackett prompted, and Shepard turned to Steve, took the ring, and turned back to Kaidan. And if he looked closely, he imaged he could see a glint of moisture in his almost-husband’s eyes. 

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Shepard recited, slipping the finger onto Kaidan’s finger.

His heart was pounding so hard he nearly forgot he was supposed to follow suit. Steve helpfully stepped over and handed him the ring, clearing his throat just loud enough to get his attention, but not enough for the gathered crowd to hear. Kaidan took the ring and slid it onto Shepard’s finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.” His voice wavered on the last word and he clamped his jaw shut. Looked up and drowned in eyes of such vivid blue.

“By the power vested in me by the Systems Alliance, and before these witnesses, I now pronounce you husband and husband,” Hackett said, a faint smirk on his lips. It must be an unusual sight to see two of his best soldiers so undone. 

Shepard gripped his hands tighter, and Kaidan had the fleeting thought that perhaps the strength of his grip wasn’t to reassure his omega. Maybe it was to keep himself on his feet for long enough to complete the ceremony. Kaidan stepped forward, Shepard met him halfway, and then their lips met. 

And fucking hell, it felt like years since he’d kissed his alpha. The scent of him was stronger today, had been driving him insane since he’d met Shepard at the park for their wedding, having spent the night at separate houses, James and Garrus supervising Shepard, Steve and Jonn helping Kaidan get ready. Shepard pulled him close, arms cradling him like the most precious thing on the planet, and Kaidan felt himself sway.

Shepard pulled away, far more quickly than Kaidan would have liked, both of them breathing hard, then they shared an irrepressible grin with each other before they turned to face the crowd of well-wishers. A cheer went up, and Kaidan looked around the familiar faces – people he had bled beside, fought beside, shared tears and laughs, hope and despair with. Some he knew better than others, but all of them were integral parts of the war, the battle to save the galaxy. Samantha. Liara. Tali. Garrus. James. Wrex. Jack. Miranda.

It still shocked him some days, to wake up on earth and to know that the war was over, that they had won, that life as they knew it would go on. The asari. The turians. The salarians… 

Shepard tugged his hand and led him down the aisle, grins fixed to both their faces. They would have a photograph session in the park, then make their way to the yacht club where the reception would be held.

And after that?

Actually, Kaidan didn’t know what was happening after that. Shepard had refused to tell him. He’d insisted on a midday ceremony, rather than an evening, but had refused to expand on why. He’d promised that they’d have a honeymoon Kaidan wouldn’t forget, but had refused to tell him where they were going. He’d helped Kaidan pack – jeans and t-shirts mainly, with a few sweaters thrown in, telling him they were going somewhere casual, but not too cold, but he’d given no further clues.

And, truth be told, Kaidan was finding the whole thing to be utterly endearing. Shepard regularly went to significant efforts to please him, but this level of planning and secrecy was a bit much, even for a totally smitten alpha.

And the one unspoken absolute, of course, was that there would be plenty of sex. Because honestly, Kaidan was going to have a hard time getting through the next three hours keeping his hands to himself, never mind the next two weeks…

 

 

“I distinctly recall you telling me,” Garrus said, as he sidled up to Shepard with a glass of dextro-wine in his hand, “that any discussion whatsoever of a relationship between you and the Major was grounds for being thrown off the Normandy.”

“Then thank god you’re not serving on the Normandy any more,” Shepard said dryly. He clinked his glass with Garrus’s, and they both took a drink. The reception was well underway, the main course being wrapped up, and Shepard and Kaidan were working the room, aiming for at least a short chat with each of their guests. Kaidan was currently talking to Tali, the pink tinge to his face suggesting she was teasing him mercilessly. “A lot has changed in the past year, here on Earth,” Shepard went on. “And I don’t mean the rebuild after the reapers.”

“We’ve been hearing some of the news on the extranet,” Garrus confirmed. “Riots. Arrests. Your name might have come up a few times. I’m going to say here and now that I still have no idea how your genders work. Nor do I understand the social implications of it all, so I’m going to try not to say anything offensive, but please forgive me if I do.”

Shepard gave Garrus a wry grimace. “Half the problem now is that even we don’t know what’s supposed to be offensive and what’s not. One of the biggest insults for omegas – being called a knot-slut – has become a badge of pride for some of them. Drawing attention to someone’s gender used to be defamatory, but now people are wearing t-shirts with it stamped on them. Sometimes I envy the asari. One gender for everyone, no questions asked.”

“But even they have issues with ‘purebloods’,” Garrus pointed out. “So gender isn’t really the issue. It’s the way people look at it. And every species has its own hang ups.”

“Even the krogan,” Wrex said, ambling over to them, a glass of ryncol in his hand. “Now that the genophage has been cured, there’s a race on to breed as many young as possible. But we have same-sex couples, just like any other species. Makes it tough on them, when the whole krogan culture is demanding they find someone they can breed with.”

“How are you handling that?” Shepard asked, curious not just about the gender issues, but about how the krogan were rebuilding their worlds.

“With a lot of headbutting,” Wrex said with a chuckle. “We have plenty of couples willing to breed. Far as I’m concerned, if a few males and females want to keep themselves to themselves, that’s no one’s business but their own.”

Kaidan reappeared at Shepard’s side then, sliding an arm around his waist and planting a kiss on his cheek. “The quarians don’t do same-sex relationships,” he dropped into the conversation, while Shepard looped an arm around his shoulders.

“Really?” Garrus turned to Tali with an expectant look.

“No,” she confirmed. “Not that we’ve ever heard about, at least. But we’ve got other problems. With the geth,” she said dryly. “It’s turning into a class war, those who will let the geth interface with their suits, and those who won’t. They’re extremely good at helping us adapt to the environment on Rannoch, but some people are turning it into a moral issue, claiming they’re pure quarians, while the rest of us are weak, turning to machines because our bodies can’t adapt for themselves.”

“There’s no logic in the arguments,” Kaidan filled in, having no doubt already had this conversation with Tali. “But it’s causing tension among the settlements on Rannoch. And the geth are starting to get upset about it.”

“Hmm. I guess you’re right,” Shepard said to Garrus. “Doesn’t matter the species or the gender. There’s something every species will choose to argue about.”

“But plenty of things they’ll also choose to agree on,” Wrex said with a grin. “And ‘Shepard’ is still one of the most revered names in the galaxy.”

“As it should be,” Kaidan agreed, before Shepard could say a word. He planted a noisy kiss on his cheek. “Even if the humans like to forget it now and then.”

 

“Where are we going?” Kaidan asked for the fifth time, as the FTL flight came in to dock. It was coming up on sunset and after he and Shepard had left the wedding, they’d had a short drive to the Air Station, then a quick trip by FTL shuttle… and now, Kaidan had no idea where they were.

“I’m not telling you,” Shepard replied patiently. “Which is another way of saying ‘You’ll find out soon’.”

Kaidan grumbled, but obediently followed Shepard though the turnstile to collect their bags, then into another shuttle that was to ferry them to… wherever their destination was. He’d not even managed to see any of the signs in the Air Station, aside from ‘Shuttle bay’ and the generic ‘Arrivals’ and ‘Departures’ notices, so it wasn’t until they were twenty minutes out that he saw the first sign that actually gave him a clue what they would be doing for the next two weeks… and bloody hell, it was a hell of a clue.

‘Queenstown’ read the sign, the sharp banking of the shuttle giving Kaidan no more than a glimpse of the word before they were whisked away into the rapidly fading light. A minute later, craning his neck to read the words, he saw a sign proudly proclaiming ‘Eezo-free zone’. What the hell?

“Where are we?” he asked Shepard, knowing he wasn’t going to get any kind of decent answer.

“Nearly there,” his lover said smugly, making Kaidan feel like thumping him over the head.

“Queenstown? Eezo-free zone?”

“You said you wanted a honeymoon that was out of the ordinary,” Shepard said, repeating what Kaidan had told him when asked where he’d like to go. Maybe he should have been more specific. ‘Hawaii’ or ‘Jamaica’ might have narrowed the options a little. As it was, he had only the vaguest inkling of where they were, and he didn’t know whether to crow with glee, or wait and hope quietly that he wouldn’t be disappointed…

The shuttle came to a stop and the door opened… and as Kaidan stepped out, he looked up the impressive hillside, houses and hotels perched like birds nestled amongst the trees on the precarious slope… and beamed in absolute elation.

“New Zealand,” he declared, seeing a matching grin on Shepard’s face. “Queenstown, New Zealand. Adventure capital of the world.”

“With each and every activity absolutely devoid of any mass effect fields,” Shepard filled in, no doubt reciting the description off some cheesy brochure. It was Queenstown’s specialty, offering everything from sky diving to parasailing, jet boating to canyoning, completely absent the cushioning effects of mass effect fields, allowing thrillseekers to feel the full weight of their own mass and momentum.

“We have to get up early in the morning,” Shepard told him, smiling at the porter who arrived to carry their bags. 

“How early?” Well, that would explain the insistence on a midday wedding, if they had to make it here and get a good night’s rest before their first day of adventure.

“Four A.M.”

Kaidan did a double take. “Excuse me?”

“Four A.M.” Shepard repeated, following the porter into the hotel.

“What the hell does anyone do at four in the morning?”

Shepard threw him a cocky grin. “You’ll find out.”

 

Inside the lobby, Shepard headed for the reception desk and produced a booking form. “Shepard and Alenko. For the honeymoon suite.”

The girl at the desk sat up straighter, eyes widening with delight. “Oh, yes! Welcome to Queenstown. And congratulations. I’ll call the concierge to see you to your room and make sure you have everything you need.” She scanned the form with her omni-tool then tapped a few keys on the console in front of her… and moments later, a wiry man with a goatee bustled out of a side door, spotting them immediately.

“Mr. Shepard. Welcome to the LakeView. It’s a pleasure to have you. Welcome.” He offered his hand for Shepard to shake, then turned to Kaidan, offering the same. “And Mr. Alenko. I trust you had a good flight over?”

Shepard had moved before he’d even thought about it, intercepting that hand and planting himself firmly between the concierge and his husband… and he felt his temperature spike as he recognised the subtle but unmistakable scent of alpha pheromones coming from the concierge. 

The man looked disconcerted, glancing from Kaidan to Shepard, not sure what to make of the sudden rudeness-

“We’re bonded,” Shepard announced, not only to comply with the new laws on bonded couples, but because he felt an admittedly irrational dislike of the man before him, but he couldn’t quite figure out why…

“I’m so sorry,” the concierge apologised, already backing away. “I’m an alpha. I expect that’s upsetting you somewhat. I’ll fetch another member of staff to see to your needs.” He hurried away, while Shepard caught the look of bafflement from Kaidan.

“Really, Shepard?”

“I’m sorry.” He felt his face heat, utterly mystified about his own behaviour. “I don’t know why I did that…”

“It’s because we just got married and so having another alpha near your mate if bound to make you antsy,” Kaidan said, catching on quickly. “It’s no problem.”

A middle aged women came darting out of the door the concierge had disappeared into, smiling sympathetically at them… which only made Shepard feel worse. “I’m Lorraine. If you need anything while you’re here, just ask for me. I’m terribly sorry about the misunderstanding. We knew you were newlyweds, but we hadn’t realised you were a bonded couple. Please accept this token for a free drink at the bar as our way of apologising. Now, if you please, come this way. Your room is on the fourth floor…” The woman – a beta, Shepard’s keen sense of smell told him – chattered away as they rode the elevator, detailing the two restaurants within the hotel complex, the courtesy shuttle bus to some of the local sights, and the three swimming pools available for their use. She made sure the porter delivered their bags, hastily pointed out the various features of the room, from the television with fifty nine channels, to the swimming-pool sized Jacuzzi, to the bar fridge, selling drinks at exorbitant prices, then excused herself with a beaming smile… leaving Shepard alone with his new husband.

He turned to Kaidan, about to suggest that they head downstairs for an early dinner… only to suddenly find his omega in his arms, lips pressed to his, a telltale lump in his trousers indicating that Kaidan had far more interesting things than dinner in mind.

“Mmm… God, you smell good…” Shepard pulled Kaidan closer, head spinning with the scent and taste of him. 

“Make love to me,” Kaidan murmured… and all thoughts of food fled from Shepard’s mind. He planted both hands on Kaidan’s ass and lifted, feeling legs wrap obligingly around his waist, and headed for the bed. Landed with his lover beneath him, their groins pressed together, Shepard unable to stifle a moan as his thick erection was pressed between them, friction from his pants making the thing throb.

“I love you,” he said huskily, pulling back only long enough to draw breath, and then diving back in, fingers surprisingly nimble, considering the lust pounding through his veins, unbuttoning Kaidan’s shirt, sliding his belt out of the buckle...

“Want you inside me,” Kaidan demanded, squirming to shed the rest of his clothing, tugging haphazardly at Shepard’s until they were both naked, Shepard pressing inside his tight passage, eyes rolling back in his head as a long keening moan escaped his throat.

“Fuck… harder…” 

Shepard obliged, thrusting in hard and fast, feeling tight flesh squeezing his cock, hands on his back, his shoulders, lips on his neck, the all-consuming scent of lusty omega hijacking every mental process until all he could think about was making his lover come, over and over again… and then he was coming himself, his essence spurting out of him, marking Kaidan as his, his scent mixed with Kaidan’s, an unmistakable warning to any other alpha… 

“Shepard! Ugnh… Fuck… Aaahh!!” He felt the suddenly wetness between them, confirmation of Kaidan’s pleasure, and the knowledge that he had pleased his omega was almost more of a rush than his own orgasm. The pressure around his growing knot made him moan again, and he felt Kaidan stroking the back of his neck. 

He trailed open-mouthed kisses along Kaidan’s collar bone, then sought out his mouth again. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Always.”

Shepard lay still for a minute or two, then made a valiant effort to pull himself up, peering down at his lover. “What about dinner?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Do you think we can behave enough to visit the restaurant? Or should we just order room service?”

Kaidan laughed and squeezed his ass around Shepard’s knot, making him curse and flex his hips. “Definitely the restaurant,” he said saucily, with a wink. “The meal will take longer that way. And I love watching you squirm.”

 

The faint chirp of an alarm pulled Kaidan from sleep and he opened his eyes, blearily wondering where he was. The light of Shepard’s omni-tool lit up the bed, and he remembered the wedding, the shuttle trip, the _very_ satisfying wedding night…

“What time is it?” he asked in complaint, rolling over to go back to sleep…

“Four o’clock. Time to get up.”

“You’re kidding me…”

“Come on.” Shepard kissed his cheek then climbed out of bed, throwing the blankets off Kaidan as he did. “It’ll be worth it. I promise.”

Another few minutes of grumbling followed, but like any good soldier, Kaidan eventually got his ass out of bed and into the shower. He dressed in jeans and a sweater, having been warned that it could get cold where they were going, and followed Shepard out the door.

“What about breakfast?”

“Later,” Shepard told him. “And yes, that will also be worth the wait.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

A short car trip took them out of the city, the sky still black. It was dark enough that Kaidan couldn’t make out any kind of landmarks, giving him no clues whatsoever as to their destination. They came to a stop and stepped out, into a non-descript prefab shed, still no clues about why he’d been dragged out of bed at this godforsaken hour…

Until they stepped through the rear door into a large paddock… and Kaidan felt his jaw drop. “Hot air ballooning?”

The grin on Shepard’s face was priceless. “A sunrise flight,” he said smugly. “With a champagne breakfast. And one of the best views on the planet.”

Kaidan hugged his husband, then kissed him on the lips. “You are absolutely the best.”

Shepard chuckled happily. They followed the receptionist over to the large basket they’d be traveling in, the balloon already rising up above them, the pilot preparing for the flight. And not long after, they were rising above the landscape, the sun turning the horizon pink and orange, the sky cloudless, set to turn out a perfect blue once the dawn arrived.

They didn’t speak much during the flight, spending their time watching the scenery instead, rolling hills and blue lakes spread out beneath them, the mountains in the distance, while the sun pierced the horizon then rose into the sky.

“So what do we have planned for the rest of the trip?” Kaidan asked once they’d landed and were being led to the restaurant where they’d have breakfast. “Or is that a secret as well?”

“No, the secrets are pretty much done with now. There’s nothing definite booked in, but plenty of options, depending on what you’d like best. We could go canyoning. Jet boating. Paragliding. And there’s a canyon swing that I’m just dying to try.”

“Canyon swing?”

“One hundred and eight metres.”

Kaidan grinned. “Yeah. We’re definitely doing that one.”

 

 

Three days later, Kaidan stumbled through the door to their hotel room, sagging with weariness. They’d had a full day, an early breakfast then a helicopter ride over the Milford Sound, followed by a hike across the glacier. They’d seen a pod of dolphins, explored an ice cave and watched as one edge of the glacier had cracked and tumbled into the sea. Dinner wasn’t for another couple of hours, and Kaidan took the opportunity to collapse onto the bed, not even bothering to remove his shoes, legs and feet aching, blissfully tired and satisfied with a day well spent.

He felt the bed beside him dip, then nimble fingers undoing the laces on his shoes. “I haven’t worn you out, have I?” Shepard asked, an undertone of suggestion in his voice, and Kaidan smiled.

“Best honeymoon ever,” he said happily. “But if you keep dragging me up every mountain you find to climb, then yeah, I’m going to need a nap.”

Shepard made a non-committal sound… and Kaidan felt hands sliding up over his calves, his knees… up his thighs. He refused to move. So far they’d gone parasailing, the day after the hot air balloon ride, conquered the infamous canyon swing – Kaidan teasing Shepard mercilessly for having screamed the whole way – and visited the local markets, picking up the obligatory range of souvenirs and knick-knacks as gifts for their friends. He’d earned a little rest…

And then he felt Shepard undoing his pants, running the zip down, a warm hand slipping inside, and Kaidan involuntarily curved his hips up into that hand.

“Too tired for this?” 

Just for the sake of being difficult, Kaidan let out a sound of complaint. “Tired,” he grumbled. The bed shifted with the weight of someone getting up, and Kaidan felt a moment’s disappointment that Shepard had taken him seriously… until he heard the soft rustle of clothing, then felt his pants being tugged down and off…

“Tired, hmm?”

Kaidan cracked one eye open, seeing Shepard standing there naked, eyeing the tent in his underwear hungrily. “Well, let’s see if I can’t inspire you to find your second wind…” He crawled up his body and nuzzled his erection through his boxers, then grabbed the edge with his teeth and tugged… 

With a laugh, Kaidan obligingly wiggled his hips until Shepard succeeded in getting them off, then he felt a warm tongue tracing a path up his inner thigh… warm, moist suction around his balls that had him fisting the sheets, then Shepard’s mouth engulfing his cock.

“Fuck… Oh god, keep going…”

“I thought you were tired.”

“Mmm…” He reached down and grabbed Shepard’s head, encouraging it to return to it’s previous location… and Shepard complied with a laugh. But it wasn’t just his mouth that was getting busy. Kaidan felt hands at his hips, felt his legs being parted, and then a long, talented finger was pressing inside his passage, making him buck his hips up into Shepard’s mouth…

“Like that, do you?”

“Mmm… yes…” Two fingers now, pressed deeper, teasing his prostate, while lips and tongue did wicked things to his cock. He still had his shirt on, so he wriggled around until he had it off, trying not to move his hips too much, not wanting to interrupt the attention focused in that direction.

He really was tired, he realised, would definitely fall asleep after this, but before he did, he wanted to feel Shepard inside him. So he gently eased his hand under Shepard’s chin, tugging his head up to look at him. “Get up here,” he ordered with a grin, once he had his attention, and the man rose onto his hands and knees, slinking up Kaidan’s body like a big cat. “Want you now,” Kaidan said, legs wrapping around Shepard’s hips in open invitation.

“Want you too,” Shepard replied, teasing his lips with light kisses. “Now. Always.” He tilted his hips, reached down to position himself and pressed home, both of them moaning at the tight, wet sensation. “Love you.”

“Always…” 

Shepard set a lazy rhythm, pressing deep then withdrawing almost completely, and by the time he came, he’d wrung three climaxes out of Kaidan. But instead of letting himself come where he was, he pulled out and nudged Kaidan over onto his side, then slid back inside him from behind. A few short thrusts later and his climax was sending hot spurts up inside his passage… and then Kaidan felt another wave of pleasure as the knot filled him.

 

“We have time for a nap before dinner,” Shepard said sleepily, wrapping himself around Kaidan’s body, face pressed into the crook of his neck while his knot was still locking them together. “Get some sleep.” He tilted his head and bit Kaidan hard, the body beside his going limp instantly. It wasn’t just to see that he rested. It was also pain relief for his aches, and more than that, it was simply an expression of his love, a silent promise that he would watch over his lover and keep him safe… just as for Kaidan, allowing himself to be bitten was a pledge of absolute trust in his alpha. 

Kaidan murmured something and reached back, hand groping weakly for something until Shepard took it in his own, their fingers twining together comfortably. And then Kaidan sighed, squeezed Shepard’s hand briefly, and went still.

Lying here in bed, buried inside his omega, it was easy to imagine that life was perfect. They’d gotten the new laws passed, they were married, their friends and family accepted and approved of their relationship and their careers were on much more stable footing than they had been in a long time.

But all of their problems were far from over, Shepard admitted to himself. The planet was still rebuilding, half the mass relays were still out of action, comm channels were unreliable and while the laws had assured the rights of alphas and omegas, attitudes were slower to change. 

But the changes to the law were a shining ray of hope for the species. Perhaps they were finally moving beyond their own prejudices to see that, in the end, they all wanted the same thing. To love, and be loved. The freedom to make their own choices. The wisdom to move beyond the mistakes of their ancestors and make the future better for their children.

Shepard smiled to himself as he pulled Kaidan closer. Life wasn’t perfect, no. But his little slice of it, lying beside him, warm and content, was pretty damn close to paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has commented, squeeeed, liked, laughed, cried or otherwise enjoyed this fic. I've loved writing it and the encouragement all the way through has been sensational. I really have no idea what I'm likely to write next, but something's bound to come up, one way or another...


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